Necromancer Chronicles
by everfaithful
Summary: Set just after season three. Damon is having trouble dealing with his feelings for Elena and calls an old friend for help. Mean while someone is looking for Tyler's disembodied spirit.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N My first story in a long time. I hope people enjoy. The usual disclaimer applies. They aren't my toys, I just borrow them for fun, but never for profit. I wrote this after season three while impatiently awaiting season four. **

**Chapter one**

"This is not good." Elena said, watching Damon as he sat at the bar drinking heavily. He wasn't people watching as he usually was. Not that most people could tell when he was doing so, but Elena could. She could read his body language and the subtle way he shifted his attention even before she had transitioned. Now everything was clearer as if someone had washed the window she had been looking through revealing so much more depth of color and detail.

"It looks like business as usual to me." Caroline pointed out.

"He's been avoiding me. " Elena stirred her iced coffee a moment, looking from it to the vampire at the bar. She nodded more to herself than the others and started to get up. She couldn't let this continue. He wasn't just avoiding her; he was avoiding Stefan as well, which she wouldn't tolerate. She was not going to finish what Katherine had started. She wouldn't be the reason they lost each other.

"Oh no; you are not walking over there." Bonnie said and pulled her back down into her seat. "You made your choice. You told him you were letting him go. And that's exactly what you need to do. For once Damon is respecting your decision. Don't screw that up."

"He gets self-destructive when he's hurting." Elena said. Not that she blamed him for hurting, or for avoiding her. It just hurt more than she had expected that he did.

"All the more reason for you to be with Stefan," Caroline said. "Besides, showing him what he can't have anymore is not going to make him stop hurting. Nothing is going to do that but time."

Elena sighed but nodded. Her friends were right. "So how are you holding up?" She asked Caroline. She'd been so caught up in her own drama the last few days that it was easy to forget that Tyler was gone.

"A day at a time I guess." Caroline said. "I'm alright… I've got nothing but time, so eventually it will stop hurting."

Elena reached out to put her hand on Caroline's. She looked up as the door to the Mystic Grill opened. She was waiting for Stefan to join them. It wasn't Stefan that entered. It was a woman. Middle aged, attractive.

Damon too looked over as the door opened and smiled. "Hey, beautiful," Alexandra Sauveterre (or Sacha as he called her) was his oldest living friend. He'd called her right after discovering that Elena was going to be transitioning. He'd helped with the transition, but after that had pulled away and spent most of his time waiting in the grill for just this moment. Well that and avoiding the happy couple as much as possible.

The woman spotted Damon and smiled, then glanced about the crowded bar before she went straight to him returning his smile as she took the shot glass from his hand and downed it's contents. "You're drunk" She said, eyes twinkling.

"You're old." Damon countered. "Why don't you kiss me and fix that." He asked sliding an arm around her waist.

"Not here, not while you're drunk, and not until you tell me why you sent for me." She said, then frowned a moment and made a gesture for him not to say anything else, and turned her attention to the three teen aged girls. "Mind your own business, children. You don't want my attention today." Sacha said, knowing the girls listening. She could sense the vampires quite clearly. She then picked up the bottle. "This paid for? Yeah? Come on, let's get out of here."

Damon didn't have to be asked twice. He put his hand at the small of her back and led the way out. He didn't look at the table at all, but he knew they were there. They hadn't been the only ones listening. He was just better at hiding it than Elena thought. He passed Stefan coming in but said nothing to his brother on his way out.

"What was that all about?" Stefan asked as he went to sit by Elena. He was worried about his brother but stayed where he was and steeled himself for the Damon bashing to come. He didn't like it ; not that he didn't do his own fair share, but that was different. Damon was His brother. Not theirs.

"A new friend of Damon's I guess. He didn't introduce us." Elena said, wishing there wasn't the sudden burst of jealousy at the thought of Damon with someone else. She'd made her choice. She'd made the right choice. She didn't have a right to be jealous anymore.

Caroline scoffed. "Apparently he sent for her"

"Which makes her trouble," Bonnie pointed out.

"Damon and trouble; Must be a day ending in y." Caroline said picking up her drink and sipping at it.

"Cut him some slack. He just lost his best friend," And Elena. "If he's called in an old friend to help him get past that, I can't fault him for it." Stefan said. He was actually proud of him for that. It took a lot for Damon to admit when he was hurting. Stefan understood that. It was a Salvatore trait, born in an era when a man didn't show weakness, at least not as it was perceived at the time. If he had called for a friend, then Damon was doing whatever he had to do to handle the pain he was in without it including a morgue full of bodies or lashing out at the two of them like a child.

As much as it gave Stefan hope that his brother was maturing finally, it also made his heart ache. Because that meant he really did love Elena deeply.

"Yeah but she knew we were listening." Caroline insisted.

Stefan shrugged. "Chances are you were staring, I wouldn't worry about it. "

* * *

Damon parked the car near the Mystic Falls Cemetery and got out, walking around to open the passenger's side door. He offered his hand to help her out of the car.

Sasha placed her gloved hand in his. "Are you trying to tell me something?" She asked with a smile as Damon got the bottle from the back seat. He didn't look good. She knew him well enough to know the signs. He was one good push away from going over the edge.

"Can't a guy take a lady to dinner?" He asked jokingly, although there was concern in his expression. "You've waited too long. You need to feed."

"I'm fine." She said. Damon had always liked it when she had fed from him in the past, but she didn't dare at the moment. She'd drained herself enough that if she started she might not stop. There was something about the vitality of a vampire that was hard to resist.

"Really?" He asked, one arm went to her back the other reached out to touch her face and she grabbed it.

"Fine, I need to feed." Sacha admitted.

"And here we are." He said "there aren't any good tables, I'm afraid we're going to have to picnic it." Damon said as he pulled her after him into the oldest part of the cemetery where no one would be lurking.

"Am I about to dine on your relatives?" She asked spotting the Salvatore name on one of the tombstones as they passed several actual tombs. She could see in the woods beyond the cemetery that the actual burial ground extended farther than the well-ordered rows.

He made a disgusted sound. "No. I don't want you getting indigestion. Over here we have several other founding families to choose from." He took another long drink, set the bottle on one of the stones then moved to help her with her jacket.

"Damon… you of all people should respect the dead." She said, looking over her shoulder at him. "If I taught you nothing it should have been that." She stepped forward before he could touch her newly bared arms.

"Fine. Have it your way. They were all liars, cheats and murderers anyway. I wouldn't worry too much about it." he said picking up the bottle again.

Sasha removed her gloves and lay down on the ground, and took a deep breath. "Thank you " she said closing her eyes, and continuing to simply breathe. She could sense the bodies below them. Even though their spirits had passed on there was still enough energy in the ground from the care that had been given to the dead for decades after their death, there was enough power in the bones themselves that she could pull strength from it.

"You're welcome." Damon said, even though he knew that she wasn't talking to him. He knelt down beside her and watched. He'd have to find out later what had caused her to use so much of her life force that it had aged her. He knew it would have had to involve another of her kind. When she tussled with his kind, with very rare exceptions it had the opposite effect.

He had always loved watching the years fade from her features. He had enjoyed it even more when he had been what had fueled her regeneration. "At least the sons of bitches are good for something." He muttered softly, more than 150 years of resentment didn't fade just because he was supposed to respect the dead. He hadn't respected them in life and he saw no need to change his views because they were laid to so called rest.

"Damon." Sasha admonished softly, not yet opening her eyes. She didn't have to. Not here. People thought of cemeteries as places of death. She had always found them teeming with life. She could feel it all if she concentrated long enough, and that included him. Unlife was its own form of life with its own flavors and colors.

"After some of the things we have done in cemeteries and you're worried I'm going to Say something wrong?" He asked grinning at her.

She slowly opened her eyes and propped up on one elbow. "The dead don't mind a little celebration of life." She said. "They are careful of their dignity though. It's all they have left. And that is not an invitation to come back here alone and be rude." Sacha laughed.

"I wouldn't dream of it." He lied, brushing her hair out of her eyes, careful not to touch. She'd made it plain she wasn't ready for that.

"Why did you send for me?" She asked, although she could guess. Damon was vibrating. He was on the edge of another self-destructive episode. He'd been much the same the first time she had seen him, only she hadn't been nearly so friendly back then. He'd been young, so very young and alone. Damon didn't do well alone.

"I need to forget. " He said honestly, and her heart nearly broke at the emotion in his eyes. "You helped me forget before."

"Damon…"

"I know the price. I don't care." He told her firmly.

"But I do." She told him. She reached up to caress his face without thinking. Where her hand touched his skin it paled, and she pulled it away.

Damon closed his eyes, reaching out to grasp her hand before she could pull it completely away and drew it to his lips. "That's why it has to be you."

"Alright." She said reaching up to stroke his hair. "I'll do it." As if she could tell him no. She could never tell him no. Ironic under the circumstances, but even in the beginning he had managed to charm her. Damon was the kind of Vampire her mother had warned her about. Which was probably half of his charm.

"Thank you." He said and eased back. He could feel the drain already. "You didn't recharge enough." He told her worriedly.

"That's why this whole touching thing is a bad plan until I have." Sacha told him.

"Patience has never been my best subject." He pointed out.

"That's okay, I grade on the curve." She said with a smile. " Once I'm my old self again, or rather my younger self, let's get back into town. There are things I need to take care of."

* * *

Jeremy stood outside what he tended to call the Witch House, and looked at Bonnie. "I thought you said you didn't want to be controlled by them anymore."

"I don't. But at the same time I can't ignore it if they are sending a warning either." She told him. She had mostly forgiven him for the incident with Annabelle. After having thoroughly chewed Jeremy out, Elena had turned her attention to Bonnie and pointed out that arguing with Jeremy about Anna would of course have taken his thoughts there. Didn't excuse the kissing though.

"They sent you to Alaric to make him a monster. I don't know that they are the best choice for early warning systems." Jeremy would love to burn this place to the ground and salt the earth to get rid of them. They were nothing but trouble as far as he was concerned.

"They were just trying to keep the balance." Bonnie said leading the way inside.

"I don't think they know what that is anymore." He wasn't forgiving. Not when it came to taking his family from him. Alaric had become family and they had used him and turned him into something he never would have wanted to be. What kind of balance could they be preserving by interfering in the land of the living? They were no better than the vampires they claimed to despise.

Bonnie understood. It was something that they had tried to agree to disagree on. She didn't like what they had done either. The problem was she knew why they had done it. And if her mother and her best friends hadn't become vampires she would have agreed completely.

She entered the building and went into the room filled with candles. They instantly lit for her and she smiled a little for Jeremy before entering the center of the room and beginning to chant.

Jeremy stood to the side and watched. He really didn't like this but there was nothing he could do but be there to support Bonnie and maybe stop her if she started wandering off looking like some sort of zombie.

Bonnie frowned and the candles faded to a normal level of light.

"What did they say?" he asked.

"I'm not sure." She said honestly. "They were talking about a new danger in town. One that is a threat to them as well as us."

"We're always in danger. What could hurt them?" Jeremy asked. "They're already dead."

"That's what I don't understand. " They had kept talking in riddles as far as she was concerned, using words she didn't understand. She didn't even recognize what language they were in.

"Yeah well. I know some of them are your ancestors, and I'm sorry, but after what they had you to do Ric, I don't care." He said turning to leave. "They should have to answer to someone too."

"I don't disagree with you Jeremy. I don't. But look at the havoc just the vampires we deal with everyday cause, and some of those are the good guys. Imagine the world full of evil vampires out there. I don't want our friends or my mom to die. But you can't expect them to feel the same." She said pointing to the house they had just left.

"I don't. I just expect them to let the living make their own decisions. No one has the right to force you to become a killer." He said. "Much less force someone else to force you."

"Damon did it to my mom."

"Abby's not a killer. She's a vampire. I'm not saying what he did was right, but it's not the same. No one forced her to finish transition against her will." Jeremy pointed out. "Esther messed with Alaric, she turned him into a serial killer. He chose to die instead of becoming a vampire and they made you take that choice from him. They made him into a monster that was willing to torture not just kill. There is no way that is right. I don't care what side of the veil you're on." He told her and headed toward the car.

Bonnie sighed. How could she tell him what she had done to Tyler to keep their friends alive? She couldn't. He would never understand. Caroline would never understand. She would feel so betrayed… and she'd be right. All she could do was hope that Klaus had the sense to stay away. She had chosen to sacrifice Tyler to save the others. She just wished she didn't feel guilty about it.

* * *

Damon found her at the health food store. It was the closest thing to an actual herbal that they had in Mystic Falls, and there weren't too many other places she could have gone. He watched her as she selected dried herbs, most of which shouldn't be considered for food stuffs. Who on earth would put asafetida in their food? They called the stuff devils dung for a reason. Yet strangely there were recipe cards for Asafetida, Valerian (great for headaches but tasted like dirty socks) and of course Vervain.

He knew she had felt him. She had always been able to sense him. He wondered if it was part of what she was. He had been the only vampire in the small Louisiana town they had lived in the last time around. He realized that he didn't know if she could sense all vampires, or just him.

"You can stop hiding now." She said with a warm smile. She felt better after having replenished her strength. An actual dinner was going to be in order as well. It was yet to be decided if she was cooking or if he was buying.

"I'm not hiding. I'm admiring." He told her as he moved closer and slid his arms around her from behind. He smiled as she leaned back against him and rested her arms on his.

"Some places they call that stalking." She teased looking up and over her shoulder at him.

"I've been called worse than a stalker." He said laughing. "Occasionally by you. "

"Yes you have." She said. "So what are we doing for dinner?"

"My brother is taking Elena out tonight. Which means we have the boarding house all to ourselves." He told her nipping at her ear, making contact with bare flesh and not caring one bit.

"Not in public." She whispered. Not that she was ashamed of his attention, just worried that someone might see the reaction of dead flesh against hers. "not yet anyway."

"Fine." He said almost petulantly and let her go. "I think we should make your jambalaya tonight." He moved around to her side. Damon truly had missed her. But even as enthralled as he had been to Sacha, he had been obsessed with Katherine and it had destroyed them… repeatedly, and explosively. Still here she was, and he still wanted her.

"Alright. As long as your accompanying dish is in a cup not seated across the table from us I think I can handle that."

"One time and you're still holding it against me. But you have to admit, she really was a dish." He said grinning wickedly.

"It took me 6 months to find what it would take to get rid of her ghost." She whispered, swatting his arm playfully. "That is what I am holding against you. That and the fight we had." Not that she was actually holding anything against him. That didn't mean she had forgotten though. There was very little about Damon Salvatore that she had forgotten.

"The fight we had was why I brought home take out." He pointed out. It was easy to talk about now. Years had passed, emotions had faded, tethers had been cut.

She made a faint sound, almost like a hum, but not quite and Damon knew to change the subject. The fight had been about Katherine. Who was apparently still a sore subject. He'd have to tell her later that she was out and occasionally about.

He went back to his typical sarcastic banter, and she responded well to it, rising to meet his every challenge. People passed them in the isle and smiled at them, amused by their antics.

"So how do I get to your place from here?" she asked as they left the store.

"I'll drive you." He said.

"I can't just leave my car here. Besides it has my clothes in it."

"All the more reason to leave it here." He pointed out, "I have always believed clothing to be completely optional."

"No you haven't." She said laughing. "You were the most uptight, self-righteous man I had ever met the first time I saw you." She laughed even harder "You're blushing. I didn't know you could do that anymore."

"That was a long time ago." He said as he walked to her car. "I'll come back for mine in the morning."

She offered him her keys and allowed him to let her into the passenger's side and put their purchases into the back seat.

"And yet in some ways you haven't changed at all." She said as he got into the driver's seat. She rested a gloved hand on his. She could wish that he had called because he wanted her back, not because he needed her help. He was in love with another woman. His brother's woman. And it was killing him inside. Yet he could still look at her in such a way that it made her forget everything that had happened before… or that none of it was real.

"All the important things have remained the same." He said giving her a hungry look then started the car.

"I can see that." She said allowing herself to return the look.

* * *

"How are they still alive?" Rebecca asked as she paced the parlor of the family mansion. They had chosen to remain afterward. Partially because of Elijah's guilt over Elena Gilbert becoming a vampire. Partially because there were too many unanswered questions. "Klaus is the only one that could have created their line. They should be dead along with him."

Elijah sighed. "Let it go, Sister."

"I cannot let it go." She walked over to stand in front of him confrontationally. "I don't see how you can either."

"Because I do not feel the need to punish them for surviving. For all we know there was something about Finn that caused his line to fail when he did." Elijah said, having grown tired of his sister's constant harping on Elena and all things Salvatore.

"Then why did the hybrid die?" She asked.

"Only one hybrid was reported dead." Kol said. "I have heard from several of his little beasts. They live."

Elijah's eyes narrowed "Then Klaus lives."

"How can that be? I saw him staked. I watched mother's creation drive that stake through his heart. I saw him burst into flame. " Rebecca insisted.

"Unless the creature was powerful enough to cloud your mind." Elijah said.

"He was created to kill us all. Why would he leave our brother alive?" Kol asked.

"He had a close friendship with Damon. It is possible that he retained part of that humanity. That he couldn't ultimately end his friends. No matter mothers brainwashing." Elijah frowned.

"If that's the case then the Salvatores have our brother still." Kol said.

"Be still, both of you." Elijah said sharply as Kol and Rebecca both moved toward the door. Their intent was clear. He would almost rather have Fin and Klaus than these two some days. "You have seen what is achieved by tormenting them. If we wish to find the truth of the matter, we will need to be more subtle."

"Subtle? They have-"

"Perhaps, but if they do they will not destroy him. We have all spent our share of time in a box. It will not harm Klaus to spend a little time in his. First, we need to make sure that he is indeed still alive." Elijah walked to the window. "Find out where the hybrid is buried. They aren't callous enough to murder one of their own to keep up an illusion. Make sure Tyler Lockwood is indeed dead. That is where we start."

"How do you suggest we go about that?" Kol asked.

"The girl, Caroline. The boy's mother. Make friends. Ingratiate yourselves. Use your brains instead of your emotions perhaps." Elijah said. "Why do you think I put so much effort into undoing the damage done by Alaric Saltzman? "

"I had wondered why you cared who was mayor or sheriff of this place." Kol said.

"And as far as the Salvatore brothers know, it was because the counsel had broken their promised peace with our family that I stepped in and took over. " Elijah said.

"They think you are here hovering over their precious Elena." Rebecca snapped.

Elijah shrugged. "It doesn't matter what they think, so long as they do not think that I am still looking for Nicklaus. But as I said before, evidence first. Find Tyler Lockwood's body." In the mean time, Elijah was making preparations of his own.

* * *

Sasha laughed, as Damon nuzzled into her neck, making a purring sound as he did, sending chills through her. "Will you go over there and make yourself useful." She said as she cut the sausage to add to the rice when it was time. "That shrimp isn't going to shell itself."

"I miss your accent." He told her. "Becoming a teacher has really ruined your vocabulary." He said as he did as she requested.

"You only miss it 'cause now you can't poke fun." She said pausing to stir the rice and vegetable mixture before going back to her cutting.

He thought about it a moment, shrimp in one hand moving back and forth as if weighing options. "No. That's not the only reason." He said finally before peeling the shrimp. "But it is pretty high on the list." He looked into the pot. "You do know that you are the only person in the house that has to eat food right? And it's just us tonight." He said stirring it himself.

She shrugged. "I've never been able to cook small." She admitted. "You have a refrigerator. You might as well have something other than blood in there. "

"We keep that down stairs." He told her and watched as she dumped in the sausage and stirred once more. "Gotta stop stirring or you're gonna turn that to mush."

"I think this is what they mean by too many cooks." She said putting the lid on, then washing her hands. "We'll put the shrimp in just a couple minutes before serving it up." Sasha's attention turned to the herbs she had brought in that were soaking in the vodka to make a tincture. She shook it a little then set it in the window.

"So, when are we going to take care of business?" He asked.

She sighed. "Damon…" Sasha thought about telling him no. She thought about telling him to get counseling instead but he'd probably just get the munchies and eat his therapist anyway. "Are you sure this is what you want?"

"I don't recall you being so worried about what I wanted the first time around." He said.

"I wasn't, and you're avoiding the question." They hadn't been friends the first time they had met. In fact he had been trying to feed on her, and she had first taken exception then retribution.

"If I can't get this under control I lose them both." He answered quietly as he closed his arms around her, and rested his chin on her head. "I just got my brother back. There is no going away until she dies of old age now. If I walk away because of her its forever." He hesitated. "I- I don't want to be alone again."

"You never stopped wanting Katherine no matter what I did." Sacha reminded him. If he had, she might have kept him with her forever.

"I know." Damon said. "But I could breathe. I liked being with you. That wasn't all tied in with the ritual, Sacha. I wasn't a mindless drone buzzing around the zombie queen."

"I have never raised a zombie." She said laughing softly.

"Then what kind of necromancer are you?" He teased in return.

"Apparently enthralling vampires is a decent substitute. I haven't been kicked out the union yet." She slipped out of his arms and found the mortar and Pestle. "Add the shrimp. I'll get this started. " She told him.

"See you're already getting bossy. You know you like it." Damon watched as she worked. He'd always been fascinated by it all. He hated witchcraft in general. It was a useful powerful tool that was easy to latch on to yet devastating in the aftermath. Sacha was different. It wasn't witchcraft. This was no servant of nature preserving the balance. This was completely different.

Sasha did like it. Power was addictive. Especially the power that came of controlling another being living or dead. Even more so when the being in question was Damon Salvatore. It was like having a tiger on a leash though. You had to be careful or one day he'd bite your hand off no matter how tight the leash. "Come here." She said softly and reached for his hand.

"Actually asking this time?" He teased, but placed his hand in hers and watched as she sliced the tip of a finger and let a few drops fall into the mixture.

"Hey, you were taking mine it was only fair." She said smiling at him. "Last chance to back out. Once I start chanting you're mine till I let you go."

"I can handle that." He said. "For at least the next 50 -60 years. By then you might be bored with me." Truthfully he hated giving up control. He didn't like being anyone's lap dog. At the same time, his days in her keeping had produced some of his fondest memories. He liked being with her, he just wished he could love her genuinely. Loving her was uncomplicated. There were no hidden agendas, no competition. No overriding need to change him.

"Bored? Never." Ready to strangle him, kill him in his sleep, or maybe even set him on fire in the town square. But never bored. Their relationship might be uncomplicated, but that by no means meant that Damon was uncomplicated. The man was made of complications, contradictions and poor impulse control. Still… here she was again, willing to brave Hurricane Damon.

She began the incantation, and lit the contents of the mortar and pestle, she continued adding in herbs, powders from jars she had brought in from the car, and finally she tossed two coffin nails into the flames. The fire rose nearly two feet and her voice grew louder until suddenly she stopped, and flame was extinguished. She stirred the ashes with the blade, then dipped her finger inside, and turned to face him pressing the ash to his forehead, sealing the ritual with one final word.

Damon's head jerked back, and his world was suddenly blinding white and he hit the floor with a crack. He looked around the room dazed, but almost hyper aware of everything. He could hear her heart beat pounding out in a steady calm rhythm. He heard the wind outside as if it had began to whip the tree limbs wildly even though it was nothing more than gentle breeze. The light split as through a prisim sending shards of pain through his head.

"Well," came a familiar voice. "This is a new twist." It was Ric's voice. "You could be in some serious trouble here, pal."

Damon tried to find him, but it was as if in a dream where he was trapped in slow motion.

"Its alright. I'm not going anywhere." Ric said, even though he faded from sight.

"Help me." This voice was different. Younger. Familiar, but not one that he recognized with that strange echoing effect and two words. It was different from Ric. Then the world righted itself and he slowly sat up. "Next time warn a guy. "

Sasha offered him her hand as she laughed. "How could you not know what was coming?" She asked. "This isn't your first rodeo. Hell it's not even your second." She shook her head as he stood. "So whose your friend? "

"What? Oh ahm… Ric- Alaric Saltzman. He died a few days ago. He was a friend." Damon said.

"I could tell. He seemed pretty amused by things. Doesn't want my help so I have the feeling you're stuck with him for a while. Unless you need it taken care of although I'd hate to do that. He seems like an alright guy." She said. "Food is ready."

The first time she had made him hers, he had felt the change much more profoundly. He had known he was enthralled then too, and he had been anything but willing. He'd chaffed and struggled and fought her for months. She was a stranger, more than that she had been dinner that had not only gotten away but had fought back and actually wounded him. Suddenly he trusted her, wanted to protect her, take care of her, he wanted to crawl under her skin and live there all the while knowing that it wasn't what he really wanted. Until somewhere along the way it was exactly what he wanted. For the first time since his transition, he had been able to close his eyes without seeing Katherine's face, without hearing her voice, or remembering her touch.

The second time he had been out of control, sliding over the edge that he loved to dance on, leaving bodies in his wake and drawing the attention of hunters and human police alike. She'd found him. He didn't know how she'd found him, but there she was. His friend. She had offered then and he'd gone with her willingly. He'd spent ten years riding the passion that flared white hot between them until he had pushed her hard enough that she had simply let him go even though he hadn't wanted it to end that way.

Now he was the one calling her to him, asking for her to force his mind and heart away from Elena and give it to her instead, and this time the shift was the most subtle of all. Their friendship had been strong for a very long time in spite of the past. Now he felt it deepen to something more. The passion was still there (it was there when his soul was his own) but now he felt content, secure. His balance shifted and his world aligned with her goals and needs. He knew that it was the necromancy. But he didn't care.

"Did you get a look at the other one?" He asked, going to get plates.

"What other one?"


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N Thank you to those who reviewed and thanks for coming back for chapter two :) **

Chapter two

Elena was up early, and back at the bag training. She might be a vampire now but from what she had seen that just meant that she was more likely to get into a fight now than before. She was learning more about fighting as a vampire from Stefan. Damon was supposed to take her out to teach her how to hunt, but he'd been avoiding her and that was really starting to bother her.

Everything she felt for Stefan had increased until the sight of him was enough to almost make her cry with the intensity of it all. Everything she felt for Damon had grown as well. She loved him too. She just loved Stefan more. It hurt so much to have lost him from her life. Damon was there but he wasn't and it tore at her heart every time she looked at him. Stefan said that he barely spoke to him either. It wasn't right. She had to talk to him. She'd have to do it when no one was looking.

She looked up, sharply when the bag suddenly had resistance. "Jeremy. Hey." She said to her brother. He looked tired still. "You feeling okay?" She asked.

"Yeah I'm fine." He lied. "Thought I'd start working out with you." He'd been unable to sleep the night before. The voices had kept him up. Mystic falls was full of ghosts. Literal and figurative and it seemed like most of them were stalking him. He figured he had probably upset Bonnie's dead witch friends and they'd messed with him. But when he thought about it, things had been getting steadily worse since he had contacted Rose for Damon and Elena. Figures something involving Damon would mess with his life.

Although he still wasn't sure that Elena had made the right choice. Stefan was the safe choice the steady choice… but Rose had been right. It was possible that Damon would have been the best choice.

"I don't mind." Elena said. "I'd love the company. Besides we never know when the next problem is going to come up. Can't hurt for you to have more training since you refuse to stay out of it."

"Hey, this all affects me too you know. Even when you send me away it all still affects me." He pointed out.

"I know. I wish it didn't." She told him honestly.

"We don't always get what we wish for. " He said. "So show me how to do this."

* * *

Sacha slipped out of bed early the next morning and showered, even though she could still smell his scent on her. Not that she minded. If there had been a way to bottle that scent and wear it as perfume she would have.

She dressed quickly before heading to the kitchen to grab what was left of the blood from the night before, and warmed it slightly in the microwave, pouring it into a coffee mug. She added a few drops of the tincture she had made the night before. She carried that and mug of tea for herself back up to Damon's bedroom.

She passed Stefan in the hallway. "Good morning." She said with a smile as she opened the door to his brother's bedroom.

"Good morning." He said in return, wondering who this one was and how long she would last. Damon's conquests never lasted long.

Sacha sat down on the side of the side of the bed, and set the mugs down on the night stand. "Time to wake up." She said stroking his hair back from his face. Like most men he looked so young when he slept. It was how she knew when he was faking it. Not that she would ever tell him that.

"You do realize that vampires by nature sleep during the day." Not that he did usually. But he felt good. He wanted to luxuriate in the moment. They came so rarely.

"I know but I have to go to work this morning and I thought I would drop you off by your car." She told him.

He opened his eyes and looked at her. "You don't have to, you know." He told her. "You could stay here, with me, in this bed." He reached up and pulled her into the bed and rolled until he was on top of her. "Forever."

She shook her head "No." She told him, as she slid her hands up his back, lifting up to kiss him tenderly. "I can't. I need to go to work, and I need to find my own place."

"Now I know you aren't going to get out of this bed. There is no need for you to live anywhere but here."

She gave him a look and he rolled off of her and out of bed. "Fine. Ruin a perfectly good morning." He said petulantly. He investigated the mugs and chose the correct one. He took a drink and wrinkled his nose. "That's going to take some getting used to again. "

"And here I thought it would cover up that nasty anticoagulant aftertaste." She said sitting up and taking a drink of her tea.

"Nothing covers that." He said with a shrug. "It's like diet cola. You just get used to it after a while."

She set her tea down and reached into her bag to dig out her brush and make up. She started brushing her still damp hair, occasionally pausing to run her fingers through it. She caught him watching and smiled. "So how of many of my students are undead?" She asked.

"There's Stefan of course."

"I saw him in the hall on the way up. So that's the vegetarian vampire who attends high school to be near his sweetheart. You know if he starts to sparkle I'm going to have to stake him. I'm just warning you." She teased.

He made a disgusted sound. "If he starts sparkling I'll stake him myself." He assured her. "So you saw Stefan…"

"Yeah. Said good morning . He's kinda got that whole Robert Pattenson, David Boreanaz thing going on. I mean seriously, what's with the broody eyebrows and TV vampire hair." She asked.

Damon laughed. "Next time, don't bother with the necromancy. Just remind me of this conversation and I will love you forever."

"Already planning the next time are you?" She asked.

"It's inevitable. No matter how often you kick me out I keep coming back." Damon pointed out. "I think Elena is back at school now. Not sure. I haven't really been keeping track of her. "

"Why do I find that hard to believe?" She said.

He gave her a long suffering look then dismissed the comment entirely." Anyway, there is Caroline Forbes. They won't be problems. Caroline and Elena are just there to get their diploma, Stefan is there for Elena. " He got up and started to dress, after dutifully finishing off the blood.

She nodded "Good. I'm not looking for trouble. Kind of hoping to turn this into a vacation."

"Good, because I only have one rule." He said, even though he knew he wasn't the one in a position to be setting rules. "I need you to stay out of the psycho crazy supernatural shit that goes down in this town. I don't want you dealing with werewolves, vampire politics or anything else. "

She took a deep breath and let it out. "I suppose I can deal with that. But only if you are honest with me about what is going on. You have to realize that like you, I am who and what I am. There are things that sometimes I have to take care of whether I want to or not. No one but you can know what I am. Which is why I need my own place. I cannot live here with a revolving door of my supernatural students. Trust me it's not me wanting to be away from you."

He frowned but nodded. "I can -"

"Help me look at rentals later." She interrupted, knowing he would be trying to find a way around her concerns. "We both know how this is going to end. Either I will leave town alone or you will leave town with me. Staying isn't an option. You need to prepare for that. "

"I called you here so that I wouldn't have to." He pointed out.

"No. You called me here because you didn't want to be alone." She corrected as she walked toward him. "And you will either find a way not to be alone here in spite of them, or you will come with me and neither of us has to be alone. " She caressed his face. "In the end you choose. I promise."

He kissed her tenderly, his hands going to her neck. The herbs were working. He no longer felt her draining him with each touch. "No one is going to believe we're lovers. Your neck is too pristine." He said changing the subject. "Does this stuff mean I can feed from you?" He asked with a grin.

"I don't recommend it." She said. "Unless of course you're having an insomnia problem."

"Should I start slipping it to Stefan?"

"Why would I be touching Stefan?" Sacha asked. She didn't know Stefan other than as the vampire who had forced his brother to turn, the ripper of Monterey, and of course the man who had the woman Damon really wanted. Just because he had a reputation for no longer hunting humans and putting them back together like jigsaw puzzles didn't mean there was a reason to trust him.

"God I love you."

* * *

Elena opened the door and her face brightened, seeing Stefan standing there. It was as if the world lifted off of her shoulders and she felt as though she could fly. "Good morning." She said and wrapped her arms around him standing on her toes to kiss him, not caring who was watching as she did so.

"Good morning to you too." Stefan said, holding her close. "You know you are the second woman to say hello to me this morning. Definitely prefer this one." He said and kissed her again.

"Another woman huh. Damon's friend?" She asked leading him inside the house. They had agreed that she would live in the family home until Jeremy was 18. They had also agreed that until they graduated high school it wasn't a good idea for him to move in with her.

"Yeah." He said following her into the kitchen. "She was taking him warmed over blood." He said getting a cup and pouring himself some coffee. They had a few minutes before having to leave for school.

"That's weird. Don't his sleepovers usually wind up leaving the house with scarves around their neck?" Elena asked.

"Not this one." Stefan said. "And since neither of them is exactly quiet, it's not that she's just a friend either."

"Ew." She said laughing, although it sparked jealousy in her. She'd never been jealous of Andi. It was all fake. He didn't care about her, she didn't care about him, or wouldn't have if she hadn't been compelled to think she was in love with him. Rebecca and this new woman were different. "Well at least he's got someone, right?"

Stefan saw the change in her expression, even though it had lasted only micro seconds. He took a drink of his coffee, hiding his own behind the mug, until they were under control. "Yeah. I'm happy for him. Speaking of brothers, where's Jeremy?" He asked looking around the house.

"Jeremy got a ride to school from Bonnie this morning." She said smiling genuinely. Elena hoped that Bonnie and her brother worked out their differences and got back together. He needed someone stable like Bonnie in his life.

Stefan wasn't so sure about Bonnie being a stable influence. Sometimes the girl was genuinely caught between a rock and a hard place, and he believed that was the reason for a lot of her actions. But she was very judgmental. It was part of being a teenager to see the world in black and white for everyone but you. He understood that. He just didn't think that was what Jeremy needed. There was no convincing Elena of that so he didn't try.

"That's a good sign that the tension there is going to lighten up." He said safely. "Did you hear we're getting a new French teacher?" He asked as he led the way out of the room and eventually the house. "Miss Sauveterre. Apparently she has a little French in her somewhere. Should be interesting." Best to change the subject or she would get his actual opinion on things and then she would think she needed to defend Bonnie.

"I find it hilarious that you take French every year. You speak it better than the teachers in most cases." She said as she got into his car.

"Easy A." He teased smiling. Language evolved from generation to generation. It was good to keep up on the changes. Otherwise he'd be in Paris one day speaking in nineteenth century vernacular.

Damon parked her car in the teacher's parking lot and handed her the keys. His car wasn't far away. Nothing was far from anything in mystic Falls. Never had been. As she took the keys and he took hold of her hand. "There is one student I didn't mention." He hadn't brought her up because he hadn't thought she would stay in town much less in school but he had spotted the tall blonde as he pulled onto school property. "Rebecca Mikaelson. If she is one of your students, you find a way to throw her out of class, hell get her expelled if possible. She's trouble. Stay away from her. "

"Another vampire or something else?" Sacha asked.

"She's an Original." He told her. He didn't want to but he had promised honesty and he knew if he didn't tell her everything she would start investigating and find out anyway.

"They exist? I had thought they were just vampire myth." Sacha said.

"They exist and we have no idea how effective you are against one. I'd rather not find out." Damon said protectively.

"Alright, I'll be careful. I promise." She said leaning over to kiss him goodbye. "I'll see you tonight." Sacha told him and got out of the car. "Love you."

"You too," He said in return. He got out of the car and watched her go. He was tempted to spend the day lurking but that wasn't going to solve anything. He was used to the effects of the necromancy. He was able to resist those urges now. He didn't have to hover every day fiercely guarding her. Of course that might also be because she didn't want him to.

Sacha entered her classroom and wrote her name on the board. Alexandra Sauveterre. She found her name ironic and had on more than one occasion wanted to shoot her parents for it. Fortunately not many people got it really. Alexandra meant protector of mankind. Sauveterre was Safe haven. Literally it was safe earth but anyone that thought French translated literally had never spoken the language.

She looked up and smiled as her students flooded into the room with the first bell. She'd left the gloves in the car. She knew which students not to touch and she caused no harm to humans when they touched. She wasn't surprised to see Stefan and Elena walk into the room. She would be very surprised if they had many classes apart at all. One or the other of them would likely compel the admissions secretary to change their classes.

She looked over the attendance list as she waited for the students to settle into their chairs. The first period of the day was always the hardest but she was patient. Normally she didn't come in as the official teacher. Usually she was a substitute. She'd arrange for either the French or home ec teacher to be ill or called out of town then swoop in and take over as substitute for the duration of her stay in town.

She raised an eyebrow as she read the roster. All four of the 'Special Students' in the school were in her first period class. Well. Now to find out which of the remaining ladies in the class room were Caroline Forbes and Rebecca Michaelsen.

"Good morning." She said as the shuffling noises had quieted down. "I'm Alexandra Sauveterre." She told them. "I'll be teaching French for the remainder of the year. Miss Clark has had to leave town for the majority of that time so she should be returning next year." She stood and walked in front of the class looking down each row and looking at each of her students. "I know that its customary in foreign language classes to put on a grand production of it and choose names that are as close to your own in French as possible. I have never found referring to your teacher as Madam to be at all effective in teaching French. I do however believe total immersion does. So as you are all on year four we will only be speaking French in this class. If you can say Mademoiselle Sauveterre in anything resembling a good accent, I'll accept it. Other wise you can call me Alex." Only her father when he had been alive and now Damon called her Sacha.

She instantly began speaking in fluid conversationally rapid French. She took attendance and put the attendance slip on the door, all the while telling them what she expected of them. She now had the other two vampires in the room pegged. The older two she was not going to give any slack to. They didn't need to take this class. They were in it for the romances and that didn't mean the works of medieval French warrior poets.

At the center of it was Stefan Salvatore. The Original vampire couldn't decide if she was going to stare daggers at him or give him overly dramatic puppy dog eyes. Stefan however couldn't take his eyes off of Elena. It almost made her laugh. Vampires posing as high school students and actually acting like high school students. Dear god in heaven this was hilarious.

The bell rang and her students walked out the door, biding her adieu. She looked up after a moment to find Stefan standing in front of her desk. She continued speaking in French. He was a fourth year student standing in her class room. He would speak French or get no where.

"How can I help you?" She asked.

"I hope things aren't going to be awkward. With you dating my brother and me being one of your students." Stefan said in impeccable 19th century French. "Not to discourage you but his relationships aren't known for their longevity."

She smiled, and adopted the same dialect. If he was going to play that game she might as well indulge him a little. "Perhaps that depends upon how you view relationships." Sacha said. She would consider a man waiting more than 150 years for a woman as an indication he was more than capable of commitment. She shrugged. "But that is between him and me. It does not concern you. What concerns you in this room is French." She shifted dialects again coming to the current one. "Modern French, "She added. "Anything about Damon and myself you will have to speak with him. What he wants you to know he will tell you. Now, you should go to your next class before you are late."

Stefan left the room somewhat confused by the conversation. Was she a vampire? He hadn't seen any jewelry on her at all, so he didn't know how she was out in the morning sun if she was. There was also the fact that she had appeared older when they had passed in the doorway of the Mystic Grill than she did this morning.

He was scanning the hall for Elena when he collided with Jeremy. "Hey man, you alright?" He asked. The kid was anything but alright. Not that he blamed him. He'd lost a lot in the last few months. Far too much.

"Why does everyone keep asking me that?" Jeremy asked trying to push past Stefan but was stopped by the vampires hand on his chest.

"Because you have been through hell, and you look exhausted." Stefan answered.

"I'm fine. I've got to get to class, so you wanna let me pass or what?" Jeremy asked with a vaguely surly tone.

"Yeah, alright. I'll see you later." Stefan said before moving on to his own class.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter three

Sacha closed the text book, which she only used as the barest guideline through the day, when the final bell rang and her students hurried out the door as quickly as possible. She laughed and leaned back in her chair stretching. When she opened her eyes again there was Damon standing before her.

"I know he's a handful believe me I do, just could you please give my brother a second chance. I'd do anything to make sure he passes this class." He said, laying it on thick, including the seductive body language, knowing that there were two other teachers in the hall pretending not to look into the room to see what was happening.

She thought about telling him to behave but it would be wasted breath. Besides she didn't want him to behave. She liked it when he was playful. "I don't know, Mr. Salvatore." She said barely able to keep from laughing. "May be you could make sure he does his home work. How's your French?" She asked.

He made a little purring noise and leaned in close. "Let's find out." He asked kissing her deeply. He didn't notice Elena look into the room. Neither did he notice her leave equally quickly. He smiled as he leaned back.

"Not bad. I think I could arrange for private tutoring. I'm new and don't know all the students. You'd have to settle for me. We'd have to put in a lot of time."

"Oui, Miss Sauveterre." He said with the perfect accent. Not the Parisian she was teaching the students. But the Acadian accent she had been born with. "I think we will be spending a lot of time together perfecting my… accent." He then went back to his normal speaking voice and English. "In the mean time… how about an apple for the teacher. " He said putting down a folded legal document and on top of it an apple that had obviously come from a local tree not a store.

"What's this?" She asked picking up the apple and taking a bite of it. Then she picked up the paper.

"It's the deed to your new place." He told her grinning broadly.

"Damon I thought we'd talked about rentals." She said looking over the description of the property. Her tone wasn't as admonishing as it could be.

"Well I could rent it to you if you prefer. It was perfect and it wasn't for rent so I had to buy it. Besides its not like we own our own home anymore." They had signed it over to Elena so that she could have a safe haven. Now that seemed to sting. Just one more thing that was no longer his.

She smiled "What made it so perfect?" She asked.

"Its furnished. With a very large, comfy king sized bed, and an enormous bathtub." He said and laughed when she asked how long it had taken for him to have that delivered and the plumber change out the tub. "Most of the morning." He admitted. "It's a cabin, one bedroom, open floor plan, that happens to be on the site of an old church that had been torn down back in the 50s because the founders counsel though that vampires were using it as a haven." Damon told her. "This church happened to have a cemetery on the grounds. Of course the counsel moved the grave stones and not the graves. Some how I don't think you'll mind the lack of basement all things considered."

"Sounds perfect." She said. "You were right. When can we see it?"

"I was thinking now. " He told her and offered his hand.

Sacha lay her hand in his and let him lead her out to the car.

"Damon!" Stefan called "You got a minute?"

His brother sighed as he opened the passenger's side door to let Sacha in then took her offered keys. He thought about getting behind the wheel and driving off but he waited. He was supposed to be trying to save his relationship with his brother not ruin it himself. "What's up?" He asked when Stefan came over.

"You remember you were going to help teach Elena…" Stefan let it fall not knowing how much his French teacher knew about the Elena situation.

"Yeah. I can't tonight. Tell her I'll take her tomorrow night. We'll head out of town. " Damon said. He could face it he figured. He had his anchor now. He wouldn't go completely adrift by looking in her eyes.

"Thank you." Stefan said. He knew it had to be hard for his brother to be around them. He'd stayed to help and it had almost been too much. "Will I see you at home tonight?"

"Not tonight. I'll see you tomorrow." Damon said "Can you do me a favor and take my car back to the house?" He asked tossing Stefan his keys "Or have someone drive it back. Its here in the parking lot."

"Sure. See you tomorrow."

Damon started Sacha's car and drove out of town into the woods.

"Its beautiful out here." She said. "I've been on the west coast for the last few years. There's so little color up north there in the fall. I've missed all the colors."

Damon smiled. "you'll love it. That apple you're eating came from a tree on the property. You'll be in good supply of apples for a while."

"I like that." She said as she watched the next mile and a half go by before he turned on another old road. "They liked their churches out in the middle of no where… or there used to be a community out here."

"Mostly orchards that some of the families owned. They had a few slaves and later share croppers that lived out on the property and a church popped up like they do. So you aren't surrounded by the elite dead out here. "

"that suits me fine. The less elite the more helpful they are if you're polite to them. " She told him.

"So that's the reason you are always harping at me to respect the dead. You don't want me turning them against you." He teased.

"A little of both. They really do deserve respect. " She told him.

"Unless of course they are walking around after death." He countered.

" That is because very few ghosts are actually harmful to people. Vampires are another matter. Generally the doctrine is to leave vampires alone. Stay away from them but if you have to have an indentured servant they are the most powerful way to go."

He chuckled. "Indentured servant. Yeah I guess that is a good way to describe our first couple of years together. Things changed though."

"That's because I never wanted a drone as you called it earlier. I don't take as much of your will as I could Damon. You have to be careful of other necromancers. I'm the white sheep of the family." Necromancers by nature were dark beings. They wanted power and would do whatever it took to get it. Including forcing the dead to do their bidding. She could raise a cemetery of ghosts, ghouls or zombies with nothing more than the force of her will, then shove them all back in the ground again, binding them there and preventing them from passing on. She could and did use their essence to extend her life. That was what she had been taught by her father. What she had learned later on was that she could also help them over to their final destination. She could send those trapped in between completely across. She had found joy in that which surpassed the surge of temporary power from enslaving the dead.

"I know. I've met your sister remember." He said with a laugh. "I thought Avril was going to choke when she found out I was a vampire and you actually brought me home with you."

"Avril has issues. But you cant really blame her. She was okay when she found you were bound to me."

"Sure then suddenly I was the house slave according to her. "

Sacha laughed. "She's a little set in her ways. I don't think she has ever forgiven you for that bucket of wash water you dumped on her head. "

"Yeah that might have something to do with how hard you were laughing at the time." He said grinning.

"I warned her. She didn't listen. Not my fault you found a way to get even without actually touching her." She said as he pulled into the long drive. The first time she had taken him she hadn't known the herbs to feed him to keep him safe from her leeching his life force away. Of course the first time around that had been the entire point. He was beautiful and there were so many pleasing ways to draw energy from him.

He parked the car and got out to open her door . He loved that she still waited for him to do that. He loved modern women and their free and independent nature. But he also loved the old world gentility that he had been raised to. He would always prefer a woman that let him open her doors, pull out her chair and treat her with the grace and dignity she deserved. Fortunately for him Sacha was equally old fashioned about some things.

"This is incredible." She said as she walked across the yard, not really having looked at the house yet. She could feel the life (death ?) under her feet and as she had expected they were welcoming. She looked at the dense trees that surrounded her and the thick carpet of leaves that crunched under their feet. She loved the smells of fall. It was her favorite time of year.

He stepped in front of her and leaned in to kiss her gently. "Glad you like it." He brushed the russet locks of her hair back from her face. "There's more but first the house." He said, leading her up the steps to the broad porch that had wooden furniture already waiting.

He was still the owner, and had yet to sign a rental contract with her so he could lead the way inside. There was one large room, furnishings delineated living room from dining room and the kitchen was along the sunnier side of the small house. The walls were a stark crisp white with dark wood trim and chair rails. The bathroom as promised held a new bath tub big enough for two.

The bedroom off to the side nearest the bathroom was dwarfed by the king sized bed but she didn't mind. It was adorable that he thought of it.

"This is wonderful, thank you." She told him.

"I've had a rental agreement drawn up. Not that I'm going to charge you rent but I want you to be able to keep anyone out that you need to. But we'll need to sign that on the porch, so that I don't have to bolt out of the house the instant your signature is completed.

"Alright. " She told him as she went to check out the kitchen. Cooking was one of her favorite things. She laughed finding the left over jambalaya inside the fully stocked refrigerator. The crisper drawer was full of bags of O positive. "Shall I put on coffee? We can have it out on the porch while we take care of that. "

"Sure. Get it started. I have something else to show you." He said with a nod. He'd have preferred bourbon but what the hell. He'd get some in later. God he wished he could feed from her. That was the drink he truly wanted but he liked walking around thank you.

She joined him outside a few minutes later. "Okay, so what else could there possibly be?" She asked.

"Well, the property lines have shifted over the years. When I was growing up all of this property belonged to the Fell family. If you go about a mile into the woods to the east you'll find the ruins of their original property. Its shifted between the fells and the Lockwoods and well about the only family that didn't own it until now was mine." He told her. "The old families liked to have their private chapels out in the middle of no where. Usually they were connected to mausoleums. Don't ask me why they did it I didn't understand it when I was human, haven't bothered trying since. Anyway " he said as they walked "The Fells didn't complete the mausoleum underneath the chapel they had for some reason. So what we have here is the perfect place for you to set up shop. That way if anyone comes visiting they wont see things around." He told her.

She looked at him in amazement, then at the smallish chapel. It wasn't much bigger than her living room and that was fine. Inside it was furnished with a stone pulpit and stone benches for pews. Even the cross that hung behind the pulpit was made of stone.

Damon led the way to the left and down the stairs. The room was larger than the chapel above. There were windows barely above ground level to let light in. She could see where the holes had been cut into the bedrock for caskets to be put into. But they were all completely empty. There was one lone bench in the center that could work as a work station easily.

"you're spoiling me." She told him."Didn't I have a rule about that last time?" Sacha asked him smiling up at him happily.

"You did but this isn't the last time. I want to take care of you. I like taking care of you." He told her. "I always have."

"Well… maybe I can over look it this once." She teased and moved in to kiss him.

* * *

Jeremy dropped a bus tub full of dishes and cringed when Matt came over to him and asked if he was alright. He almost snapped but instead sighed. "I haven't been sleeping. " He admitted. "I'm sorry about this. I'll get it cleaned up."

"Nah man, go on home and crash." Matt said. "We were all kinda worried it might be too soon for you to be back after everything."

"Won't do any good. I keep expecting to see Ric and Aunt Jenna. "

Matt pulled out his keys. "Head on over to my place and see if you can crash there. I'm serious. It's a slow night. I'd offer use of a car but the insurance company is being a pain about the accident."

"I'm sorry." Jeremy said. "If I hadn't sent you and Elena out there-"

"No. We did the right thing. As much as it sucks that your sister is undead at least she isn't really dead. And neither are our friends. It wouldn't have turned out so well if we hadn't done what we did. Don't guilt over it. Just head back to my place and crash."

"Thanks." Jeremy said and as soon as he finished picking up the broken pieces of dishes he headed out the door toward Matt's place. It might not work but at least he could stare at the ceiling in private. Elena wouldn't be coming in to check on him every couple hours and god he wouldn't have to hear when she and Stefan were mooning over each other.

"Jer wait up!"

He stopped and turned, expecting to see Tyler Lockwood running to catch up. He was sure it had been Tyler's voice. But he wasn't there. "Come on, man. Don't be a jerk if you're there stay there long enough for me to actually see you." He muttered as he walked with his head down, pulling the hood of his jacket up over his head and pulling the sides forward enough to act as blinders. He was seeing and hearing too many voices and people that weren't physically there. He needed to escape from it even if it was only from the sight of them.

*you have to help me.* one said but he didn't look. They all wanted something from him. They all had needs and desires and unfinished business. The words eventually melded together as he walked. He couldn't hear any one of them over the din of the others and it was driving him mad. It happened when he tried to sleep, when he worked, in class. They were everywhere all the time and he was walking on the edge of insanity between the constant barrage and the lack of sleep.

His hands trembled as he opened Matt's door and went inside. "Leave me alone! I'm not going to help any of you if you don't leave me alone !" He yelled and sank down onto the floor burying his head in his knees , covering his ears with his hands. "Leave me alone." He said again, eventually falling into exhausted sobs.

Alaric managed to clear the room, before kneeling down beside Jeremy. "Come on." He told him gently. "I'll keep them away as long as I can. You need to sleep."

Jeremy looked up and smiled at the ghost of his former guardian. "Thank you." He said "I'm so sorry you aren't at peace, but I'm glad you're here."

"I can go when I want. Right now I don't want to." He said and walked with Jeremy toward the sofa. Just go to sleep. I'll be here."

* * *

Elena entered the grill with Stefan. "Well I guess its progress that he's willing to go tomorrow night." She said. Strange how quickly things changed. It hadn't been that long ago that Damon had been willing to do anything for her. He'd always been there for her and now he was distant. "So he's going off with Alex again? Huh… I didn't think she was his type."

Stefan sighed. "Don't over think it." Please let him go. Please really just let him go. Neither of us can take this anymore, he wanted to say but didn't. "He's spending time with a friend, girlfriend, lover, whatever their relationship is, she's right, it's between them. Besides he seems happy and that's a good thing."

"I know. I just think that it's strange is all."

"You don't know Damon as well as you think you do. He's been slowly coming around to acting like my brother again. Only less up tight than when we were still alive."

"It's hard to imagine Damon uptight." She said honestly. "I'm so used to him being wild and out of control most of the time. "

"He wasn't always, I mean, he was never a monk or plaster saint, but he wasn't always this out of control " Stefan said. "Rebecca wasn't always insecure, Katherine wasn't always selfish… we all change over time. You'll change too in time." He hoped that when she did it was to grow not latch onto one human frailty from her mortal life and allow it to warp her.

"How did you change?" She asked him.

"I don't know. You'll have to ask Damon. I don't think anyone sees themselves clearly" Stefan said. Emily Bennett had told him that his heart was pure but he thought she was wrong. If his heart had been pure… he shook off those thoughts as he looked to Elena whose attention had shifted from him to searching their surroundings. "What is it?"

"I don't see Jeremy." She said worriedly. "He's supposed to be working tonight. If he's already gotten himself fired again after Matt worked so hard to get him his job back I'll kill him." She said getting up and beginning to search the Grill for her younger brother.

She eventually caught Matt in between tables. "Where's Jeremy?" She asked quietly.

"I sent him back to my place. He isn't sleeping, Elena. I'm betting its too many memories around there. Everyone he loved there died. He just needs a break. And he needs to sleep. So in case he actually is sleeping, don't go over there. "

She folded her arms across her chest. "I'm really worried about him." Elena said. "And I don't know how to help him. "

"Sometimes the best thing you can do is leave him alone. People need time to process things. He's got the same crazy life you do. Give him time to deal. "

"I've tried. I sent him away trying to protect him. You know that."

"I do." Matt said. "But that wasn't him dealing. That was him being compelled to act like he's already dealt with it. It was always in there. He hasn't had a chance to really deal with any of it. Don't mess with his head. It doesn't help. " He told her. "I have to get back to work. I'll call you later after I get home and let you know how he's doing. "

Elena sighed. "Thank you."

* * *

Caroline didn't feel like going anywhere. Not until Carol Lockwood called her and asked to see her. She almost didn't go then but there was something in the woman's voice that called to her. They shared a loss, one that cut too deeply to share with anyone else.

She pulled herself together went to the Lockwood estate. It was hard to walk inside. She kept looking for Tyler, expecting him to step out from behind a corner and pull her into his arms. But she knew that wouldn't happen. It couldn't happen. Tyler was gone.

"Caroline. Thank you for coming." Carol said as she gave the girl a gentle even if distant hug.

Caroline nodded "Thank you for asking me. How are you?" She couldn't imagine what it was like to lose a child. It was hard enough to lose a parent.

"I'm managing." She said leading the way into the parlor. She waited for Caroline to take a seat before she joined her on the sofa. "And yourself? It must be so hard coming so soon after the loss of your father."

"It's been a rough year for everyone. " She said "I'm holding it together I guess. I try not to think about them and then suddenly I'm picking up the phone to call Daddy or I'm looking for Tyler when I get to school in the mornings." Caroline said honestly, her eyes misting over with tears that tried to form no matter how much she didn't want them.

Carol rested her hand on Caroline's. "I know." She said, and had to breathe deeply for a moment before bringing herself to speak again. "I had promised myself I wasn't going to ask this. But I need to know. You were the last one that saw Tyler alive. I need to know where to find his body. I can't bear the thought of him out there somewhere. I need to bring my son home."

The tears came freely then. "I'm sorry I don't know." Caroline began to sob. "He didn't want me to see him die so he changed and chased me out. I came back but he was gone."

Carol pulled the girl to her, and let her cry until the wracking sobs died away, her own tears falling on the girls pale hair. "Is there any chance at all he's alive?"

Caroline shook her head as she eased out of Carol's arms. "I wish there was." She said wiping her eyes. "I saw Klaus turn him. And when an Original dies their entire blood line dies with them. There is no way he could have survived. I'm sorry."

"Oh honey, it's not your fault. " She said cupping Caroline's face in her hands. "I don't want you to think that for a moment. He loved you so much, you know that." Carol said. "He would have done anything for you. "

"I loved him too." Caroline said. "Oh god I'm going to cry again."

"It's okay." Mrs. Lockwood told her. "It's okay to cry."

They sat for nearly an hour just talking about Tyler and letting the tears fall. So much of his life that each could share with the other and it was good to talk. Carol made sure that the girl was alright to drive before walking her to the door and giving her a much more sincere hug goodbye, promising to call her again.

She went back inside and poured herself a drink. "You heard." She told Elijah as he stepped from the shadows. "She doesn't know where he is, or honestly if he is alive or dead. She believes he is, but she doesn't know for certain. It's possible my boy is alive and in hiding trying to protect her."

Elijah nodded "It's possible. It's also possible that in animal form and operating on instinct he went off alone to die." He could see the wounded look in the woman's eyes. She had wanted to hold on to that hope so much. "Leave the search to me. I will make sure that we know for certain one way or the other very soon. "

Carol nodded. "Thank you. You've been very kind all things considered."

"You will find that not all vampires are mere ravening beasts or power hungry monsters. " Elijah said. "We have families, and people we love, just as you do. You will find my family to be of great support when you need it, as long as you return that support in our time of need."

"Of course," She said. "I'm not the one that needs convincing." Carol took a drink and went to sit down. "Most of the counsel is still chaffing, and they don't trust Liz or me any longer. "

"Some things take more time than others. I think they will eventually come around when they see that Mystic Falls is our home too. We want to protect and nurture it as much as you do."

"Don't hold your breath. If it wasn't for Tyler I would never have been able to see any of you differently."

"Give it time Carol. " Elijah said. "Give it time."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter four

Damon knocked on Elena's door and waited for her to answer. This was going to be a test and it was pass or fail. If he couldn't be alone with her and not try to steal her from his brother he wasn't going to stay. He'd find a way to talk Alexandra into leaving. He didn't think it would take much. He started entertaining ideas about where they could go. He wondered if there were places he could take her, things he could show her. Then the door opened and Elena was standing in front of him. He knew he could never leave the moment he saw her smile.

"Thanks for coming." Stefan said, standing behind the girl, and instantly Damon's attention was taken off of Elena's dark eyes and brought back to his brother.

"No problem. Not like we can have you out there teaching her. Unless she's really into jigsaw puzzles. Which reminds me; you and I need to go out a few more times to reinforce that self control thing." Damon knew Stefan had a problem. Neither of them had been trained really. They'd had to feel their way on their own.

"Yeah, we can do that." Stefan said. "Not my idea of a fun evening but I'm sure we can find something else to do to make up for it."

Damon chuckled. "We'll close down the bar, play pool, and make a night of it. I'll let you know when I'm free."

Stefan gave him a perplexed look. "Since when do you check your schedule?"

"Since I have a girlfriend," He said "Don't you check what you have planned with Elena?"

"That was fast." Stefan said.

"You are actually dating my French teacher." Elena said shaking her head.

"Alex and I have history. Don't worry this isn't some crazy rebound make Elena jealous scheme. "He said rolling his eyes. "Come on. Let's go. I know this great club in the next county over. We can work on your ability to compel while we're at it."

Stefan watched as Elena and Damon left. He had plans of his own. It involved finding out as much as he could about his new French teacher and why she was with Damon. It wasn't that he didn't want to see his brother happy, he did. He just wasn't one to trust anyone he didn't know. Not anymore.

He knew where she was living. It hadn't been hard to sort out. Especially when their lawyer had brought over more paperwork for Damon regarding the property he had just bought. Stefan wondered why he had done that instead of just moving her into the house with them. There was something Damon was keeping from him about this woman and he just hoped that it wasn't going to bite them all in the ass later.

Stefan could still remember playing in those woods. He had chased Elizabeth Lockwood and her sister Sarah through these woods while Damon had been at war, the summer before Katherine had shown up. He remembered his father taking him hunting with Mr. Fell and his two boys not far from the site of the church. Fell's church it had been called then and there had been some speculation about whether there would be another town springing up around it. He wondered how different things would be if it had.

He turned down the long road leading to where the church had once stood. He couldn't decide if it was ironic or fitting `that a Salvatore now owned the property. Another turn this time down the long drive that led to the house. He knew she saw him coming, he could see the shadow in the window as he parked the car.

He was surprised that she stepped outside with two coffee mugs. She set one on the table between the two porch chairs and motioned for him to join her. There was a time, back when he had been human that he could have imagined his brother sitting on that porch with just such a woman, enjoying the quiet when the day was done. Now he just couldn't see it. Damon had become too urbane.

"Hello." He said as he got out of the car and approached the porch. He knew that for what it was. She was willing to talk but she wasn't going to invite him inside. He sat down in the offered chair and picked up the cup of coffee. He made note of the gloves she wore but didn't think much of it. It was getting cooler in the evenings and long thin fingers chilled easily.

"Hello Stefan" She said. "So I am going to hazard a guess and say you are here to ask me questions you should be asking Damon."

He laughed quietly and picked up the coffee cup. "Guilty as charged." He admitted. "I'm just worried about my brother. You can't fault a guy for that."

"Well I could but it wouldn't be right." She said smiling. "So what is it you want to know?"

"For starters what do I call you? You say Alex but I hear Damon call you Sacha." He shrugged "Vampire ears and plaster and lathe walls."

"That's all the more reason for me to be glad to live out here instead of with you two." She blushed a little. "You can call me Alex. You don't know me well enough to call me Sacha."

"Alright, Alex. I'll keep it formal and all in French, modern French, "He added with a winning smile and she could see then they were definitely brothers, "in the classroom. But outside of school functions, I'm not a kid. I'm not going to act like one. Damon is all the family I have. You can understand my concern when there is suddenly a new apparently serious relationship going on and I don't know anything about it."

She couldn't tell if he was trying to explain himself, or make some sort of power statement. Vampires were always tricky until you got to know them. She decided to not sort out which it was. Just go with the assumption that both were possible. "Of course, " She said, "you also need to understand that he's in a difficult position. "

Stefan took a drink of the coffee, blissfully free of any additives whatsoever, and gave her a quizzical look.

"I've known Damon a long time. This isn't our first fling. It won't be our last. " She told him, although she wasn't about to tell him how long she had known his brother. "I know about the animosity between you two. I know about Katherine. I know about Elena." She said. " He is trying to give her space to get used to the intensity of vampire emotions while dealing with his own intense emotions. He doesn't want to leave because he doesn't want to lose you again when you've just started getting along. Personally I think right now he needs something separate from you. He needs a relationship that has never been touched by you…"

"I never intended-" he started and stopped when she held up her hand.

"I never said you did." She told him, "Doesn't change the fact that it's happened, now does it."

Stefan sighed and shook his head "No. "He had to admit that much. He couldn't deny their history of competition for the same woman. "At the risk of sounding rude, and I don't mean it to be, but what are you?" He asked.

She smiled. "A woman, "She said laughing. "Why do I need to be anything more?"

"Because the first time I saw you, you looked to be in your mid 40s. You've lost ten years somewhere along the way. "He said. "You speak a dialect of French that was already changing when I was a boy. Damon doesn't feed from you, and he always feeds from his women."

"No he doesn't." She said. "He feeds from his toys. His juice boxes with breasts. He does not feed from his women. But you haven't been around to witness that I don't think."

"No. I haven't." He admitted as he finished his coffee. She'd dodged the question and he supposed he'd have to accept that for now. "Be careful." He told her as he stood. "Katherine is out there and she gets strange ideas about things, especially me and Damon. "

"The average vampire isn't known for being emotionally logical. When they are its time to pack up and head for the hills." She said with a shrug. "I can handle Katherine."

Stefan noticed something in her eyes when she said that, and he was certain it wasn't jealousy. "Are you a hunter?" He asked.

Alexandra had to think about how to answer that. She had answered him truthfully even if a little vaguely so far. She saw no reason to shift gears now. "No." She said slowly. "I can … but I don't."

Stefan nodded. "Okay." He said "Thank you, for the coffee and for being honest with me."

"You're welcome." She said rising to her feet and offering him a gloved hand. Instead of shaking it, he took it in his and bowed over it in an old world gesture. She raised an eyebrow and nodded her head in acknowledgement.

"Good evening, Alex." He said backing away then turning to head for his car.

Alexandra picked up their coffee cups and went inside, laughing softly to herself. Well that was different, she thought. She wondered what Damon would think about it when he got home. She had a feeling they would have a lot to talk about. Strange how easily those words formed in her head. When Damon got home.

"You've done well." Damon said smiling. He shouldn't have been surprised that Elena had been a natural at compelling people to do things. It had taken a couple attempts to get in the club without ID because she was nervous and didn't believe that she belonged inside. But he wasn't going to beleaguer the point. She was new. He'd seen fledglings take a lot longer to get the hang of it.

Once inside he sat her down at a table with a bottle of whiskey between them.

"Alright, drink it up." He said filling the shot glasses in front of them. "One thing you do not want to be is overwhelmed by the hunger when you go out there to feed. You need to be in control. Not the blood."

"Now how is it you learned that and Stefan didn't?" She asked. "I've never really understood that."

Damon shrugged as he downed the shot and motioned for her to do the same. He didn't know why but alcohol took the edge off of the hunger. "I don't know. Sometimes I think it's just been his way of punishing himself for losing control the first time, when he killed our father. Not that I blame him. I mean he killed us first it was only fair." Damon said then filled their shot glasses again.

Elena gave him a long suffering look.

"What? He shot us. I tend to take that personally." He downed the shot and tried not to spend much time actually looking at Elena's face. "I don't know what causes a vampire to become a ripper. I know that sometimes the violence is like a drug." He wouldn't be telling her this if she hadn't transitioned. "It takes the edge off of the pain and the anger. The blood can sometimes trigger the violence. You smell it, you hear the beat of your prey's heart, you smell their fear and then you strike. We're predators Elena. Do not ever forget that. No matter what mask we wear we're the top of the food chain, and the people around us, they're the next link down. "

"How can you be so callous?" She asked incredulously.

"I'm not callous, Elena." He told her rolling his eyes. "I'm a vampire. So are you. You are used to a degree of separation from your food. You buy meat in the store and that's fine because you never had to look the cow in the eyes before you ate her. "Damon said. "But it was still a cow. You might think they are adorable with those big brown eyes or whatever, but it's never slowed you down when it came to a cheese burger. The bagged blood is vampire fast food. You can't guarantee that it's always going to be available. Sometimes you have to get your food on the hoof. So you had better shift things around in that head of yours little girl because people are cattle."

She downed another shot. "Is that what you think of your new girlfriend? Is she a cow?"

Damon choked on his whiskey.

"I'm serious is she a cow? Was I a cow before I was turned?" Elena demanded, her indignation and anger glowing white hot and on the verge of out of control.

Damon looked her in the eyes, his features tight and controlled. "Keep your voice down. " He said sternly.

"No." She said loudly. "Not until you answer my question."

Damon took one last hit of whiskey, promising himself that Stefan would buy him a case after this. He was going to need it. He thought about it a second then took another long drink off of the bottle then grabbed Elena by the arm and pulled her out into the parking lot, shoved her against a lamp post and pinned her there by the throat.

"When I tell you to do something you do it." He growled. "This isn't you and me out for a good time. We don't do that anymore. This is me teaching you to survive. Do you understand me?"

"Yes." She managed to choke out, yet she still glared at him as he removed his hand.

"No, Alexandra isn't a cow. I wouldn't want to be the idiot that suggested the possibility where she could hear either." He sighed. "And you know how I feel about you," although he hated admitting it now. "But yes, humanity in general are cattle, unless you prefer the juice box metaphor."

She rubbed her throat. "Fine, I'm sorry I yelled."

Damon didn't believe her. He didn't care if she was sorry or not. It was just part of how things were when you're a shiny new vampire. Caroline was the smoothest transition he had ever seen. He'd hoped that she would rub off on Elena. He'd have to talk to her later about helping out with the girls training. Caroline had been a natural. Elena however was unfortunately more like his brother than he liked at the moment. He did not need a repeat of Stefan's first few weeks.

"It's alright. You're… emotional. I get that. Get it under control." He said probably more gently than he should have.

"That great coming from you, Mr. Self Control," Elena said without really intending the words to come out of her mouth. She didn't want to fight with Damon. She didn't. But she couldn't help it. Just being near him drove her to distraction, and she was hungry. God she was always hungry now.

He shoved her back against the light post. "Tone it down. "He knew this was a bad plan. The only worse plan he could think of was letting Stefan teach her. Stefan wasn't sure of his own control, there was no way he could teach someone else to control it. She was making him dominate her and that wasn't what he wanted.

"Is everything alright over here?" It was a man's voice.

Just what Damon needed a hero out to save the damsel in distress. "We're fine." He said holding Elena still with one hand.

"Is that true miss? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." She said although her tone was full of restrained anger.

"You know, I got a bad feeling about this. Why don't you step away from your friend here and then you tell me you're alright. "

"You really want to walk away right now. " Damon said. He wanted Elena to be in control of herself before letting her feed. He didn't want to have to clean up the mess. If she killed the first time out she'd be insufferable. She'd be worse than Stefan.

The stranger grabbed Damon by the shoulder and attempted to pull him away from Elena.

"Or not," He said "Can't say I didn't warn you." He held Elena with one hand and pulled the would-be hero around to where he could look him in the eyes. *Do not move* he compelled. And then frowned, glanced at Elena and sighed. "Fine," He said. *Don't be afraid* he added.

Damon let go of the man who obediently stood perfectly still. "Now, come here." He said pulling Elena around to stand in front of her prey. "You have time, all the time in the world right now. You don't have to do everything perfect the first time. But if you calm down, and stay in control, you can feed without killing anyone. "He said calmly, now that he had her full attention.

"Not what I expected out with you." She admitted taking a deep breath. "What do I do?"

Damon stepped closer, and gently touched the man's throat. "Here, bite here, but gently. Don't worry. I'm here. "He said touching her hair in spite of himself.

Elena nodded nervously and stepped closer, her features shifting and blood teeth elongating. She glanced at Damon one last time before sinking her teeth into the stranger's throat.

"That's it. " Damon said softly. "That's my girl." He let her feed only having to admonish her to calm down once. "Okay, ease out. " He frowned when she didn't respond "Elena" He said sharply, still nothing. He slid his hand between her and her prey and grasped her throat. "Enough." He said. "Now ease out."

This time she listened. She was breathless, looking between Damon and her prey. She wanted more. Wanted to finish him then move on to the next then the next…

He didn't trust her to be able to compel effectively. To get in without an ID, or make someone see what she wanted them to see, sure, she could manage that. To rewire someone's memories? Not yet.

"Okay, pal. " He said looking into the man's eyes *you've had too much to drink. You don't remember anything that happened after leaving the bar. You're going to go sleep it off in the back seat of your car. You can go now.*

He watched as the man walked away and let himself into his car to sleep it off.

He looked to Elena. "That is why you can't freak out in public. How I live my life doesn't matter. I'm not teaching you to be me. I'm teaching you to be better than me, more careful than me." He said cupping her face in his hands. "Do you understand that?"

"I'm sorry." She said, instinctively leaning into his touch. God she had missed this, just being with him, near him. She knew that she wasn't supposed to feel this way but she did. Even now she loved them both. It didn't matter how much she loved Stefan, she loved Damon too.

Damon stroked her hair, "God Elena…" He rested his forehead against hers. He wanted to pull her hard against him, to kiss her, make her his in spite of his brother. In spite of… he pulled back. "This is enough for one night."

He drove them back to town in silence. He was angry with himself. He should have been able to resist her charms, especially when she wasn't trying to use them in the first place. He pulled up in front of her house and parked, but didn't turn the car off. "We got off to a rocky start but you did good tonight. It'll go better next time." He told her.

"You should come inside. I know Stefan will have questions." She said "He misses you. "

"Yeah he says that now." Damon said laughing quietly.

"Damon, please. Just for a few minutes. I don't want to be the reason you two split apart. "

"Elena, Stefan and I had problems long before you came along. Besides, we're fine. We're just both busy." Damon said.

"You're coming inside." She said.

He frowned a moment and sighed. He took out his cell phone and turned it back on. It had been off for the hunting expedition such as it was. There were no messages from Sacha. Nothing he could use as an excuse to hurry out to her place right away. He turned the car off. "Okay but only for a few minutes. The three of you have school in the morning." He teased, "And I do not want to be in trouble for keeping you up too late. I have it on good authority your French teacher is a hard ass. "

"Has one you mean." Elena said getting out of the car and waiting for him to join her on the sidewalk.

"Have you been looking at my girlfriend's ass? There's hope for you yet." He teased back.

Stefan met them on the porch and Damon wondered if he had been watching for their return out the window, worried about them being alone together. He knew he would have been if the situation was reversed.

"Hey, how'd it go?" Stefan asked as he led the way back into Elena's house.

"She's new." Damon said shrugging."Her first feeding went well. We did the whole I compel them and she feeds thing this trip. We're working our way up. Just needs to work on the emotional control "He said "Or maybe I just bring out the anger in people."

"He was going on about the whole food chain thing and I got angry and couldn't control it. We ended up fighting in the parking lot." Elena said honestly.

"Yeah… it's hard the first little while to keep it under control I know." Stefan said.

"You should spend more time with Caroline. " Damon said. "I think she could use a friend right now anyway. "

"Is that you actually being compassionate?" Elena asked. "This new girlfriend must be having a hell of an effect on you." She teased.

"I'm a dick, not a complete bastard." Damon said grinning.

"Speaking of Alex," Stefan said "I have a confession to make. I went to talk to her tonight."

Damon shrugged "Okay. What did you two talk about?" He asked, amused by it really. Stefan was dying of curiosity or he wouldn't have gone out there.

"You know, I'm not really sure. The only thing I managed to find out was that she manages to politely not invite people in, makes great coffee, she's not a hunter, and that this isn't the first time you've hooked up with her. "

"You've gotten more out of her than most then." Damon said grinning. "I'm impressed. "

Stefan smiled. "I like her. I'm still trying to figure her out, but I like her. You wouldn't care to enlighten me on the subject would you?"

"Nope" He said, blue eyes twinkling. "She wants you to know she'll tell you. Don't bother trying to compel her, won't work."

"You don't feed from her, you don't compel her… " Elena said. "She's actually your girlfriend isn't she?"

"Yes. And I plan to keep this one alive thank you very much so no involving her in anything. Ever. I mean it. She's off limits." Damon told them. "I'm out of here. She's waiting up. Thanks for telling me. I'd have found out anyway but this way it doesn't feel quite so behind my back."

"I didn't mean it that way. " Stefan said.

"Never crossed my mind, Brother, I'll see you tomorrow. "Damon said and walked out the door and back to the car. He drew in a deep breath and let it out. He'd gotten through the evening without anyone dying or kissing. He could almost write it off to a success.

He texted Alex that he was on his way back to her place. When he got there he was pleased to find her seated on the porch waiting for him with a bottle of her best bourbon on the table between the chairs. "Now that's a welcome sight. Come here you." He said and smiled as she went to him and folded her arms around him.

"How did it go?" She asked softly.

"I almost blew it. I'm sorry. But I almost lost control" he admitted.

"Almost isn't the same as did." She told him. It hurt a little, not that she was going to show it. She loved him. She knew what he felt wasn't real. She knew where his heart lay. She picked up the bottle. "You want to have this out here or in the tub?"

"Do you even have to ask that?" He asked and grinned as she picked up the bottle with one hand and pulled him after her into the bathroom with the other.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Damon had decided to spend the night in his own house in his own bed. Okay partly that was because Alexandra was doing something necromancer-ish and hadn't wanted him along for the ride this time. She promised she'd call if she needed him and as much as he wanted to hover, part of the bond between them was that when she wanted to she could make him do what she wanted. While it was fun when they were in bed playing games it wasn't so much fun when he thought she needed a body guard and she told him no.

Fortunately Stefan was off with Elena for the evening spending time with Caroline as suggested. He didn't want to explain why he was pacing the floor and looking at his cell phone every five minutes. He nearly ran to the door when the bell rang. "Oh, it's you." He said opening the door to find Matt standing there. He turned around to walk back to the mantle and his glass of bourbon.

"Is Elena here?" Matt asked. There was something in his tone that brought Damon's attention back to the here and now.

"No. She and Stefan are headed up to the lake house with Caroline and Bonnie. What's wrong?" He asked.

"I … I don't have anyone else to go to, so here it is. Jeremy is back at my place. He's drunk and talking non sense. " Matt said. "I'm worried about him."

"Don't worry. I'll take care of him. If anyone understands sloppy drunk it's me." He said "Honestly I'm surprised it took this long. Come on I'll give you a ride back to your place."

"Thanks." He said. "Jeremy hasn't been sleeping. I don't know maybe he's starting to hallucinate. I read somewhere that happens if you don't sleep enough."

Damon nodded "How long has that been going on?"

"I don't know. I sent him over to my place a few days ago to catch a nap in case you know it was all the crap that's happened at his place getting to him. He said he slept then but I don't know he's gone off the deep end. I know he sees dead people and all, but I don't know."

Damon swore and hit the steering wheel. "How did I forget about that?" he muttered. Alexandra was investigating an increase in spirit activity. Of course Jeremy would be going through hell right now.

"You think that's what this is? Some sort of ghost problem?" Matt asked.

"I won't know till I talk to him. Either way I'm going to put him to sleep. "Damon said, his features drawn. He should have been keeping a better eye on the kid. He parked his car in Matt's driveway and got out.

Jeremy was in the living room floor curled up in the fetal position covering his head with one of the sofa cushions. The room reeked of alcohol.

Damon went to Jeremy's side and moved the pillow, pulling the kid into an upright position. "Jeremy." He said "Jeremy look at me. I want you to focus on me. Ignore the ghosts right now. They don't exist. Just focus on me." He said, trying to draw the boy out of the sensory overload he was experiencing.

"I'm trying." Jeremy said, his face wet with tears. "But they won't shut up, Damon. They never shut up."

"I know. It's going to be okay. I need you to breathe. Just breathe. It'll be okay. Come on… In…. out… you can do it. In… out." Once Jeremy was keeping the long slow breathing rhythm on his own, Damon pulled out his cell phone and dialed Alexandra's number. "Hey babe, I have a problem. "

"What kind of problem is that?" She asked. She knew Damon wouldn't call her while she was working unless it was important.

"I have a kid here, Elena's brother. He's a medium. Still new at it. That increase in spirit activity you were sensing? A lot of them are apparently over here trying to drive him insane." He told her.

"Where are you?"

Damon reached over to the coffee table and shuffled through the papers until he found something with the address on it and read it to her.

"Okay. I'm on my way. Put him to sleep until I get there would you?"

"Yeah that was the plan. See you soon. "He told her then hung up and turned his attention back to Jeremy. "Okay, kid. I'm gonna put you to sleep. That's all. Not gonna rework anything in your head. Matt is standing here watching anyway. "

"Yeah, okay." Jeremy said, not caring in that moment if Damon did rewire his head so long as the voices stopped.

"I have a friend on the way that can help you. She specializes in this sort of thing. "

Jeremy nodded "Okay." He said taking off his vervain bracelet. He frowned. "What's a wealh?" he asked. "Cause that's what one of them is calling you."

"Someone is very rude and needs to be nicer or my girlfriend will kick their ass." He said laughing. The word meant slave. To spirits and necromancers it was a particular kind of slave. It was a derogatory word for a vampire bound to a necromancer, a thrall. Damon looked Jeremy in the eyes. *go to sleep until I wake you.* He caught the boy as he slumped then rose and scooped him up in his arms. "Is there a bed we can put him in?"

"Ahm yeah, you can put him in my mom's old room." Matt said leading the way. He'd cleared out all of her stuff and put it in the basement the day after he threw her out.

Damon followed Matt and tucked Jeremy in. "So I have a friend on the way. She's going to help him. Jeremy will be fine. But what happens here tonight has to stay with us and Alexandra."

"Wait, you were serious about your girlfriend kicking the ghost's ass?" Matt asked with a smirk. "The high school French teacher is coming here to do what? Exorcise whoever is tormenting Jeremy?"

"I don't know how she'll handle it. But she'll help him. I meant what I said; it's not for common knowledge. Not even your friends."

"Fine, whatever. If she can help Jeremy I'll keep any secret you want." Matt told him. Jeremy was fast becoming his best friend now that Tyler was gone. He'd do anything for him or Elena. Which more often than not meant dealing with that world they lived in; the one he only really skirted the edges of because he was human and normal.

Matt stayed in the room with Jeremy, while Damon paced the living room waiting for Alexandra to arrive. She looked tired when she got out of the car and that worried him. She was draining herself too much lately. There was something going on and she wasn't telling him as much as she should be. He'd have to have a talk with her about honesty going both ways. She was big on that whole no lying by omission thing and he had the feeling that was exactly what she was doing with him.

"Hey." She said and kissed him lightly before entering the house. "So fill me in on this kid." She said quietly.

"He died a while back. Not just a drowning and resuscitation sort of dead but shot in the chest dead. A local witch, his girlfriend at the time brought him back."

Alex closed her eyes slowly, "So much for maintaining the balance of nature. Hypocritical things witches are." She shook her head. The war between the two species (for lack of a better word) was legendary. But given that her mother and one sister were witches she tended to keep her mouth shut about her prejudices.

"Preaching to the choir, sister," Damon said, and then explained about Jeremy's new ability to see the dead, and all the details about ghost night in Mystic Falls, "Apparently though over the last couple weeks it's gotten worse. He's been overloaded with ghosts to the point of not being able to sleep or eat."

Alexandra nodded. "Is he asleep now?" She asked.

"Yeah he won't wake up until I wake him. Sorry that you're gonna get outed. I told them that it stayed with us. Matt agreed. Jeremy is a little too good at keeping secrets so we may be good. I wouldn't count on it though." Damon said.

"Let's see how things go tonight. He's Elena's brother. It will come out eventually. Besides I'm not sure this isn't tied in with your kind of business anyway. Most of the spirits out there have been ordered to find the hybrid whatever that means, if he is at all connected to it that could be why he's being overwhelmed. They all want free and they'll do whatever it takes to get that way. Including drive some poor kid mad. "

Damon swore. He should have known it couldn't have actually been over. "Hybrids are vampiric werewolves." Damon told her. "One of the originals, Klaus, well his mother the Witch from hell was stepping out on dad and getting it on with the local werewolves. Thus Klaus was born with the requisite lupine DNA."

"But transitioning should have prevented him from turning into a wolf." She'd heard of vampires dumb enough to try turning werewolves and other supernatural creatures into vampires. It never worked.

"So you'd think" Damon said "But apparently there are differences between us and the Originals. Klaus triggered the curse with his first kill. Dear old mom wanted to keep Dad happy so she put a spell on him to prevent him from shifting on the full moon. Which made Klaus an unhappy boy. We've spent the last eighteen months or so dealing with just how unhappy he is about it. Which sadly ties in to Katherine and Elena and you know it might be easier to explain if I just stole Stefan's diary and handed it to you."

She laughed a little. "It's okay you can sum up. We can talk in more detail later over a hot bath."

He smiled "I like the way you think." He told her, "Anyway he broke the spell killing Elena the first time. But she came back. Turns out part of the curse put on him is that once he can wolf out again, in order to create more hybrids, he needs to first find a werewolf, then turn them and the human blood they have to consume after waking up dead is Elena's or they melt down. "

"How nice for her," Alexandra said. "I'm actually starting to feel sorry for the girl."

"Her becoming a vampire solved that problem. Klaus is dead though, which should have taken his entire line with him, including the hybrids, "Damon said. "We know one of them died. A kid they went to school with named Tyler Lockwood."

"And that is the name I keep hearing. " Alex told him.

"Why the hell are they looking for Tyler?" He asked, not really expecting to get an answer. "So what do we do for Jeremy?"

"First he needs a place where no ghost can get to him." She said. "I can put up barriers that prevent spirits from crossing."

Matt spoke up, having been standing quietly listening for most of the conversation. "You can do that here if you want. I know he might want it at home but it's easier to get away from everyone here."

"Alright, Thank you, Matt isn't it?" She asked and when he nodded she smiled and offered her hand as she would to any adult. "You can call me Alex." She said "Why don't you show me where he is. Damon, can you go get my bag out of the trunk?" She asked handing over her keys.

"Yeah he's this way." Matt said as Damon did as requested.

Even in sleep Jeremy was restless. They were coming at him in his dreams. Pushy bastards, she thought. She was going to have to work with him to control the spirits around him. At least to keep them out of his head until this was dealt with.

"Thank you." She said sitting on the side of the bed and placing her hand on Jeremy's forehead, and he quieted.. "Alright boys and girls," She said looking around her at the crowd of spirits that only she could see. "You really don't want to piss me off now do you." She told them "you can leave the room or I can throw you out one at a time."

Damon brought the small duffle back into the bedroom and opened it for her.

She smiled at him. "Why don't you and Matt leave Jeremy and me to what we need to do?" She said and took out a small bag. "Meanwhile open the door, they need a way out. I want you to put one of these in every window sill, and every exit but the front door. We'll put one there after they have all left. "

"What are they?" Matt asked.

"Coffin nails." Damon answered for her, ushering Matt out of the room. "Where're your hammers."

"Now then, Jeremy, I know you are sleeping but I also know you can hear me. I want you to just relax. We'll have you taken care of in no time. "

She took a bottle of oil from her bag and smeared a little of it on his forehead and when Matt came in to hammer the nail into the bedroom window she anointed his brow as well. Neither of them needed to carry around a hitch hiker. They couldn't possess her, and by extension of the bond, they couldn't possess Damon either. "Things might get a little dicey. Sorry about that." She told Matt.

"It's alright. You do what you gotta do." Matt said "You want the door open or closed?"

"Open please."

Matt nodded and walked out into the main house. "So what is going on really?" He asked Damon. "Is she some sort of witch?"

"No." Damon said. "Not a witch."

"Then what?" Matt asked, "I already told you I'd keep your secret. I want to know what's going on in my house."

Damon looked at the kid, and had to reassess his thinking. Was Matt really a kid? He was supporting himself, carrying the responsibilities of a house, a vehicle (until it had been driven into the lake) school, and a job. He still managed to find the time to help Jeremy. No, Matt was no longer a kid. Too bad really.

"Alexandra is a necromancer. Which does not mean what it does in DnD or any other fantasy setting you might come up with. Even if it did, she's not like that."

"So what does it mean?" He asked, leaning against the wall, arms folded across his chest.

"It means … She's better at explaining all of this than I am. " Damon said and sighed. "Okay so it kind of means what you would think. Necromancers can control the dead mostly just because they can. Spirits can be forced into service, kept from going over, bound for eternity to a given Necromancer. They can also help them cross over, or help them take care of unfinished business. Just like witches they have a lot of power and it all depends on their personalities how they use it. It's just focused on the dead."

"Does that mean she has power over vampires?" Matt asked. "Or is undead different than dead."

"Yes to both." Damon said honestly. "Only controlling the undead does take magic. No I'm not a mindless slave, no I'm not involved with her because of any spell she may or may not have cast. I'm in control of me, if that's your next question."

"There's a first." He said then grinned a little at the vampire. "How can you be sure?" Matt asked, having learned to be cautious over the last year.

"Because she was my friend before she was my girlfriend." Damon said. "She doesn't do anything to me that I don't ask her to."

Matt nodded. "Okay. I get why you want it kept secret. I don't know how Bonnie would take the idea of a necromancer."

Bonnie wasn't the only one Damon was worried about. But Sacha was right. It was going to come out, especially if she started to teach Jeremy how to control his abilities.

Alexandra set candles around the room, Black and White in equal number. In one corner of the room she lit cinnamon incense, continuing around with frankincense, Sandalwood, Dragon's blood. She then lit each of the candles again walking in order around the room. With each candle lit she said the incantation as she had learned from her father and he from his father and so forth back to the beginning of the line.

The spirits were resisting her, struggling against the force of her will. There was another necromancer involved and it was fueling the spirits fervor. They wanted at Jeremy Gilbert, seeking a connection to the hybrid through him.

She didn't wonder why the boy was going mad with it. There were so many of them clawing at him demanding that he help them. But it wasn't them that wanted the help. It was the other necromancer driving them. It was just Jeremy's unfortunate luck that he was able to hear and see them. Poor kid.

The barrier was set, all that was left was to drive the spirits from the house and seal the door. It was difficult to control spirits under another's control. She could only make the house unbearable for them and hope that it was enough.

Damon felt a chill go through him and he looked toward the bedroom. There was something not right. "Stay here." He said and ran toward the room barely making it inside before the door slammed shut, hard enough to shake the entire house.

Alex stood in the center of the room her voice was strident, loud, even though it couldn't be heard outside the room. Neither could the howling of the spirits that had risen to a deafening level. Things began to fly around the room and Damon shielded Jeremy, occasionally crying out at a well placed blow. He looked worriedly at Alexandra, wanting to be at her side shielding her, but he knew Jeremy needed him more.

Finally the room quieted and Alexandra stumbled forward to the door, "Now." She told Matt pointing to the front door as she braced herself with the bedroom door frame, watching as the boy ran to hammer in the last coffin nail.

She felt Damon's arms close around her just as she started to slump downward.

"It's alright, I've got you." He said scooping her up and carrying her to the sofa and easing her down "Do you have any juice or soda, anything with sugar in it?" Damon asked Matt, who nodded and went into the kitchen. "We're going to have to find another way to block the leeching." He told Alex as he brushed her hair away from her face. "You need energy. I have it to give. "

She shook her head. "No. "She said tiredly.

"I'm serious, Sacha." He said firmly. "I can't help you if you don't let me."

She shook her head. "There's another necromancer. I won't have you vulnerable. "

"I won't be vulnerable if we don't tell anyone what we're using. Add another enchantment to my ring or we'll come up with another one. "he told her "I'm not compromising on this. You're in danger."

She scowled at him, or at least attempted to. "You were much easier to control when you were younger."

"We get stronger as we age and you my dear are weak as a kitten at the moment. You were fighting the other necromancer as well as the ghosts weren't you?" He looked up as Matt came back with a glass of orange juice. "Thanks "He said and moved to prop Alexandra up and help her drink the juice. She had no way to recharge in this house now. They would have to do it the long and slow way. He wasn't going to let her out that door until she was strong enough to face what was likely waiting for them.

"So what do we do now?" Matt asked worriedly.

"We let them both rest. " Damon said. "It'll be alright."

"It's never alright," Matt said. "But maybe it will at least be quiet for a day or two. You want something to drink? I've got tequila."

Damon nodded, "Thanks." He said stroking Alexandra's hair as she drank the juice. "Is the necromancer the one that is looking for the hybrid?" He asked quietly.

Alex nodded. "They have the spirits worked up into a real frenzy about it too. They're looking for his body or his spirit or both."

"I don't think we can keep this under wraps." Damon said with a sigh.

"It's alright." She said. "Call them. If they get too uptight about it we'll deal with it then."

He nodded. "Alright," He eased out from behind her, and put one of the throw pillows behind her head. "You rest for now. "He said, taking out his cell phone and picking up the bottle of tequila Matt had brought out. He sighed as he went into the kitchen.

Damon pulled out a chair, and dropped into it. He stared at his phone, running his thumb across the surface like a worry stone. With a sigh he set it to dialing his brother's number and brought it to his ear.

"We've got a problem." He said, and an hour later Matt was inviting his four friends into his house.

"Where's Jeremy?" Elena asked with worried impatience.

"He's sleeping in one of the bedrooms." Matt said. "Damon put him to sleep. He needs it Elena. "

She nodded "okay. " Elena took a seat on in one of the chairs, Stefan sat on the arm. "Is she alright?" She asked about the woman curled up on Matt's sofa with her head in Damon's lap.

"She will be." Damon said.

"How could you bring a necromancer into this town?" Bonnie asked. "Don't we have enough trouble without you bringing more? And you let her near Jeremy?"

"Jeremy needed help. She helped." Damon said, tensing at the tone in Bonnie's voice.

"We have no way of knowing that she didn't stir all of this up to begin with." Bonnie countered. "The witches warned me there was a new danger in town. Something that could hurt us and them, they meant her didn't they."

"Bonnie, stop." Matt said. "If I've learned nothing else from all of this it's that nothing is black and white." He shook his head "I have vampires in my living room. People who drink blood to survive, they kill people and we accept them because they're our friends. There were witches that tried to kill us, that used us all. So who's to say that necromancers are all evil? She helped him. It took a lot out of her to do it too. So just stop."

Bonnie glared at him, and folded her arms across her chest before looking away.

"Thank you." Alexandra said stirring a little, her hand rubbing at her eyes. She was so tired. God she was in serious need of a meal. Maybe Damon was right… She sat up and smiled a little as Damon shifted position and pulled her back against his chest protectively. She felt sorry for the little witch if she pissed the vampire off at the moment. The herbs in his system protected him from so much more than just her feeding from him.

"I should be thanking you actually." Elena said "Jeremy is all the family I have left, Thank you for helping him."

"You're welcome." Alex said with a faint smile, she twined her fingers with Damon's and leaned her head over to lightly kiss the arm they were attached to. "No spirits will be able to enter the house now. I can do that for other people's homes as well when I get my strength back. "

"Is that really necessary?" Bonnie asked.

"There is another necromancer in the area. " Damon said. "Sacha believes that they're the one who's been riling up the dead around here. " He looked to Caroline then. "Apparently they have the ghosts looking for Tyler."

"What? Why?" Caroline asked horrified and angry. No one was going to pull Tyler back from whatever rest he was able to achieve. "How do we stop them? "

That's my girl, Damon thought.

"We don't. I do." Alexandra said.

"Or I do." Bonnie said, glaring daggers at Alex. Had she spoken to Tyler? Was this some grand hoax to reveal what she had done to save them all? She would not let that happen. It was far too easy to create a crisis in order to save people from it.

"No you don't." Alex said with a firmness that nearly took the last of her reserves. Why did they always want to fight? "Vampires do not fight necromancers and win. Witches rarely do. " She said. "Not a powerful one, and believe me this one is powerful and old. He would drain you at a distance. I still have to touch and I'm older than I look."

"What do you mean?" Stefan asked looking worriedly at his brother.

"Relax." Damon said. "There is an herb mix, just add it to your diet like the vervain and they can't absorb your energy. She made some up the first night she arrived. It's in the kitchen at home. A few drops a day will do." He wasn't going to need it anymore.

"Alright. Fine. We dose up and then we can help." Caroline said, looking at Alexandra challengingly.

Alex laughed softly."You were right. She is feisty." She told Damon. "Alright. But you don't take him on directly. You leave that to me. Tyler is important to you. Tell me about him." She asked the girl. "There has to be something they want from him even after death. Usually its information. Being incorporeal puts a damper on it being anything physically tangible."

Caroline came and sat down on the floor by the sofa. "You'll help him?" She asked, and looked into the other woman's eyes intently. "This isn't just something you want to get at the other necromancer?"

"If at all possible, I will help him." Alexandra promised.

"Okay, " Caroline said. "You draw strength from us by touch?" She asked and Alex nodded. "Okay." She reached for the woman's hand.

"You don't want to do that." Bonnie said.

"Yes, I do." Caroline answered and took Alex's hand in hers. She gasped a little as she felt the sudden pull. It wasn't unpleasant at all. In fact just the opposite. "ooh wow." She said and blinked.

"See, now I'm jealous." Damon said, but watched the younger vampire, preparing to separate them if the drain became too much. For now the only visual sign was that where their skin touched Caroline's looked ashen and dead.

Stefan watched closely as well. He wanted to see the effects of what was happening. He was still worried about his brother. This was something new and potentially dangerous. Damon sometimes forgot that he wasn't truly immortal.

Alexandra listened as Caroline filled her in about Tyler Lockwood. She listened to the young girl's stories about him, about their romance, about his death. She listened to the small details that only a lover would know. There was so much sorrow in her eyes. She was far too young to know that sort of pain.

Where Caroline left off Matt took over. He'd known and been friends with Tyler his entire life. It felt good to talk about him. There had been no one there to talk to about it even though it should have been natural for him to talk to Caroline because of their history it was hard.

Alexandra drew in a deep breath and sat up. "Thank you." She told Caroline. "I have enough now."

Damon knew that she didn't, but he said nothing.

"I've got a feeling this is all somehow connected to Klaus." Stefan said.

"God can't we even get rid of him when he's dead?" Elena asked getting up to pace.

"We don't know that it has to do with Klaus." Bonnie said. "We can't jump to any conclusions." They couldn't start investigating Klaus. She couldn't let that happen. "She said it was a necromancer not an Original Vampire behind things."

"True. I don't know what his motivations are. I won't until I find and confront him." Alexandra leaned back against Damon.

"You keep saying Him." Caroline said. "Do you know who it is?"

Alex shook her head. "No. As a general rule necromancers are male." She said. "It runs in families, much like Witchcraft. They don't tend to teach their daughters because they think we're too soft ." She laughed softly. "My father had no son's. So he taught us. "

"Soft… right." Damon said chuckling. "The all knowing 'They' have obviously never met your sister."

"So while we're sorting this out what do we do to help Jeremy. He can't stay here all the time he has school and other responsibilities. "Elena said.

"If he's willing I'll teach him to be able to control his abilities. Being a medium he'll be able to do some of what I do. He will be able to send them away or be able to call a spirit to him more efficiently which will allow him some peace."

Elena nodded. "Again thank you."

"Speaking of Jeremy we should go wake him up and have a chat about all of this so Elena can get her big sister groove on." Damon said kissing Alex's hair.

She nodded. "I don't think he should leave here for at least the next 24 hours. They'll be waiting to follow him tonight."

Elena nodded "okay." She said and watched the couple leave the room and go into what was temporarily her brother's bedroom. "Well, we knew there was something different about her, but I wasn't expecting that."

"Neither was I." Stefan said. "Still, she's been helpful and Damon is happy. How are you feeling, Caroline?" He asked watching the blonde as she settled onto the sofa.

"I'm okay. Tired, kinda hungry but fine. It didn't hurt or anything"

Stefan nodded.

"I don't trust her." Bonnie said firmly. "Necromancers can control vampires. For all we know she has Damon under some sort of spell."

"I asked him about that." Matt said. "He said she didn't do anything to him that he didn't ask her to, and that she'd been his friend before she was his girlfriend. I say give her the benefit of the doubt unless Damon starts acting weird."

"What, you mean like having more self control and thinking of others before himself?" Elena said, completely ignoring Stefan's expression.

"Are you kidding if that's what it means for him to be dominated by a necromancer I'm all for it. I kinda like the new Damon." Caroline said.

"He's not any different from the old Damon. He's just not hurting." Stefan said finally. "Which is a good thing. I agree with Matt. Unless there is something that is completely out of Damon's normal behavior, we give her the benefit of the doubt. She's helping Jeremy and hopefully can help Tyler if he's still around which I hope he isn't."

"Me too," Caroline said. She preferred to think of him as being at peace, not trapped in some limbo hell.

"I need some air. I'll be out front. Let me know when we can go see Jeremy." Bonnie said stepping outside. She paced along the sidewalk in front of the house. She had to stop this investigation. She couldn't let this woman, or for that matter Jeremy get hold of Tyler's spirit. Although there should be no spirit to be found. Tyler was possessed just as Alaric had been possessed. Tyler wouldn't be a ghost. Maybe there was nothing to worry about. No ghost meant nothing for them to find. Still someone was looking.

She took out her cell phone and called Klaus.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter six

Damon wiped the sweat from his brow. It was Saturday morning and he had hoped to spend it sleeping in, cuddling close and keeping Alex out of trouble. Instead they were down in the mausoleum cleaning and preparing the room for her use.

"Maybe I'll tell Stefan to put me down here if you know… my body ever has to be disposed of." Damon said looking into the holes cut in the wall, where she now had candles and bottles of herbs, powders and gris-gris that he had no desire to know about.

"Not only is that morbid, I don't have room for you down here. You're just going to have to stay amongst the undead a while longer." Alexandra said.

Damon gave her a look. "I wasn't meaning any time soon." He told her.

"Good." She said sliding her arms around him. "But you know that's not a bad idea though… for in the distant future. Very distant future. Maybe I'll join you. There's enough places prepared. "

"Together forever?" He asked.

"One relationship or another… yeah."

"I like that." Damon said. "I stopped adding the willow bark to my blood this morning." He told her.

"You what?" She asked incredulously.

"You heard me. I told you yesterday what was going to happen."

Alex walked away from him. "No, you don't get to decide to be vulnerable." She told him "I don't have anything else prepared. You can't do things like this Damon. I won't let you."

"Then we'll get something prepared. You can initiate your workspace with it. "

"I've never done anything like that before. I don't even know if it will work." She started working again, moving about the room quickly and with purpose, as if she were cleaning at him instead of with him.

"Then we'll test it. " He moved in between her and the small shelf they had brought down. "We'll test it and if it doesn't work I'll start taking the willow again, alright? Let me take care of you like I used to. "He said. "You need me at your back if you are going to take on another necromancer. Especially one as powerful as you think this guy is. "

"Things are different now." Alex said stepping around him. "I can't do that to you. Not anymore."

"You're not doing it to me. I'm doing this with you. I know our relationship is unconventional, but I'm still your only protection. Why do you have to fight me so hard? "

"Because this isn't make believe for me." She snapped. "Because your emotions may be created by the bond but mine aren't."

"What?" He asked, taking a half step back from her.

"Why do you think I keep coming back, Damon? Do you think I have nothing better to do than come running when you need me? Do you think that I set myself up as your girlfriend instead of your master because I like head games?"

"Sacha…"

"I know." She said. "I do. I've always known. First it was Katherine, now its Elena. I know. But I care what happens to you. So no, you do not get to walk around defenseless. No we are not taking a chance on an experiment that may or may not work. "She stared at him for what seemed to her to be an eternity. "Say something."

"I'm so sorry." He said finally.

She nodded. "Yeah. Okay." She said "Go home, Damon. Just go home."

"Sacha-"

"Go home!" She yelled, pushing her will through the bond. She needed him to go, she had revealed too much of herself and he wasn't ready for it. He would probably never be ready for it and now it felt as if she were forcing herself on him.

Damon took another step back and sped out of the mausoleum and back to the bed and breakfast at top speed. He entered the door growling. He shoved everything off the nearest table to the floor then sent the table sailing after it. The book case toppled over crashing into a chair, another table crashed into the wall, breaking apart, taking a nearby picture with it.

"Damon!" Stefan yelled as he ran down the stairs and somewhat cautiously toward his brother. "Damon calm down."

The older Salvatore stood staring at the younger, his breathing hard and irregular as he struggled to control his emotions. "I think." He said and took another long breath. "I need a drink." He walked over to one of the few pieces of furniture in one piece, the bar, and poured a glass of bourbon.

"What the hell happened?" He asked, setting his book aside stepping closer still to his brother who downed his drink, refilled it and moved away.

"I trashed the parlor. I would think that was obvious, Stefan." Damon said sarcastically.

"I was thinking more along the lines of what drove you to trash our home."

Damon shook his head. "I should never have come back here, you know that? I should have stayed as far away from this town as possible."

"Whoa, back up, did you and Alex have a fight?"Stefan asked, completely confused.

"It was a lot simpler before I came back. Katherine was in her tomb or so I thought . I had never met Elena… " Another empty glass quickly refilled.

Stefan tucked the book he was carrying under his arm, picked up the bottle and another glass. "Come on. " He said leading the way to the kitchen and the table there. "Sit down, and tell me what really has you upset."

Damon finished his drink and poured another one. "She said she loved me." His voice cracked.

Stefan did his best not to laugh. "Damon you two are all over each other. You say you love each other all the time. Why is that suddenly a terrible thing?"

"She didn't say I love you, she said … she meant that she loved me. "

"Again I'm failing to see the problem"

"I choked." Damon told him. "I told her I was sorry. She knows how I …."

"Feel about Elena." Stefan finished for him.

" I never wanted to hurt her- I never thought that she would actually fall in love. Not with a vampire." He poured another glass of bourbon.

"Easy brother." Stefan said and pulled the bottle away before another instant refill could happen. "How do you feel about her?"

"Right now like I've just lost my best friend… again." He said with a sigh.

"Think she'll give up on you just because you choked?"

"No. I think she'll rip my heart out of my chest and feed it to me. Literally." Damon slowed down with the current glass . He wasn't ready to fight his brother for the bottle.

"I don't think it's the literally part you're worried about."

Damon glared at him.

"Tell me I'm wrong."

The glare intensified, only to be met with an amused look from Stefan.

"You're afraid to fall in love again. "

Damon scoffed. "Don't go getting me confused with you. I am not the emo brother."

"Just go buy her some flowers, graveyard dust and coffin nails, whatever it is that makes her feel all warm and fuzzy, go over there and apologize. Man up. They're only scary when their crying."

"That's what you think." Damon said, but he almost smiled.

Stefan left Damon to his bourbon and went outside. He took out his phone and called Bonnie. "I think you're right. He's enthralled. What do we do about it?"

"I don't know yet. I don't think she'll hurt him. Everybody else might be in danger if we aren't careful though. I'll keep looking for a spell to break the bond. Any idea why she would be looking for Tyler though?"

"None. Jeremy is going to be trying to get that information out of her during their sessions. I've got to find a way to keep closer tabs on Damon without either of them figuring out I know the truth."

"He'll be alright." Bonnie said."Just keep that in mind. He'll be alright." Not that she cared what happened to Damon. He deserved anything that happened. It was Jeremy that she was worried about. Particularly if there was a chance he could contact Tyler.

Caroline sat on Matt's sofa and sighed. "Something's going on." She said. "Bonnie's different, Elena's different…"

"Care, so are you." He said smiling at her. "It's okay. People change. We grow up."

"This is different. It's not growing up its growing weird." She said. "Bonnie is freaking more than I am about someone looking for Tyler. Elena is … I don't know what she is but she's different. "

"She's weirded out by Alexandra. That's all. She didn't expect Damon to move on. I guess she thought he'd always be hovering in the background waiting for her to change her mind. " Matt reasoned.

"She totally loves Stefan more. I don't get the need to have them both. Must be a doppelganger thing. Apparently Katherine couldn't make up her mind either except to torment Damon."

"Glad to be out of that weird romantic … what is it now… a trapezoid? We've gone way past triangle." He said handing her a beer.

"I think you're right." Caroline laughed. "I don't know… I kinda like Alex. I definitely like her influence on Damon. He's fun when he isn't one big ball of angry sarcasm and pain." Not that the pain had been obvious. All that had been obvious to her when she'd first met him was that he was mean and liked way too much control.

"Guess there was a reason Mr. Saltzman didn't just stake him in his sleep." Matt said smiling. "So what do you think is going on with Bonnie. We can pretty much write Elena off to weird adjustment period "

"I don't know. But you know, Mrs. Lockwood called me to go over to her place last week. She was asking if it was possible that Tyler was still alive." She said. "You don't think it's possible do you? Cause that … as much as I want him back, it would mean that Klaus is still alive."

"Tyler's not alive." Matt said. "You can believe that. He'd never leave you behind. "

Caroline smiled a little sadly. "I know."

"Flowers." Damon said as he looked through the florist shop. Well he had no idea what kind of flowers to get her. He was pretty sure Roses were out. Everyone gave roses. He walked over to the cooler and smiled. "How many of these do you have?" He asked, looking at the magnolias in a vase. He left 20 minutes later with a bouquet of Magnolias, Gardenias, Night blooming Jasmine and ivy.

He was nervous as he drove toward Fell's Church road. He hadn't meant to hurt her. He hadn't known how to respond. His life had been spent pursuing what he couldn't have. He didn't know how to deal with a normal relationship. Wow there was something he never expected to think. Normal relationship. Ironic the closest thing to normal in his life was his relationship with the necromancer he was bound to.

There was no light on in the house as he came up the long drive. "no no no don't have left already." He parked the car and went inside the house turning on the lights as he went. Her things were still there, and he let out a long sigh of relief. He lay the flowers down on the table and ran for the mausoleum and down into the lower level.

"Sacha… "he said and paused noticing she was in the middle of a spell. "What are you doing?" She rarely did actual spell work. It was taxing and tended to send up a beacon to the spirits.

"Letting you go." She said as she took out the vial of blood she had taken just for just this occasion.

"You don't have to do that." He said stepping closer to her. "I don't want you to do that. I'm sorry. I'm a dick. I know that. You should know that by now. I didn't say things how I meant to say them earlier. " he stepped closer. "I need you, Sacha ."

She shook her head. "You're stronger than you think . You don't need me to give you strength or resolve or even to keep your attention off of Elena." She said as she added the blood to the bowl.

"That has nothing to do with why I need you." He told her. "Come on, I brought flowers and everything. I'll even take that damned concoction if you want me to. "

"Tell me that in the morning." She said using a candle to ignite the contents of the bowl. "I can't pretend anymore, Damon." She stirred the ashes, touching them with her finger. "I need that illusion of hope, more than I need the illusion of love." She touched his forehead, then grabbed him, easing him down to the floor instead of letting him hit the ground.

"Seriously? Don't blow it, Damon. " Alaric said staring down at his friend on the ground. He shook his head. "You have to be careful. People are changing. "

"What?" Damon asked.

"You okay?" She asked.

"I don't know. Did you just break up with me?" He asked, not moving from where he was.

"No." She said.

"Good. " He told her. "Cause… I brought flowers. You can't break up with a guy that brings you flowers. "

She laughed then and leaned over to kiss him. "God you're insane, but I love you."

Damon sat up and caressed her face gently before kissing her. "I would love to be in love with you." He said honestly. "Give me time?"

"I've been giving you time since Baton Rouge. I've got no reason to stop now."

"Good." He said standing and helping to her feet. "And now you have to find an alternative to the herbs because I'm no longer protected from possession or witches." He pointed out."Unless you want to –"

"You said you would take them" She paused looking at him incredulously.

"I said that to keep you from breaking the bond. You broke it, so I'm no longer obligated."

She sighed in frustration and headed out of the Mausoleum. "Fine. I'll work on something you can wear if you promise to take the herbs until I get it done."

"You'll actively work on it? I know you. You're as slippery as I am." He told her. "It's one of the reasons I really enjoy you, but this is serious."

"Yes it is, that's the point it's serious." She said sharply then sighed. "I have something in mind already. Its source is a little … unpleasant but it should work."

"Define unpleasant." He said taking her hand as they walked.

"It's made of bone." She said. "But don't worry… the spirit connected to the bone, was willing to make the sacrifice in exchange for help crossing over."

"Bone doesn't bother me."

"Good we'll work on it tomorrow then. If it works I can merge some of it with your ring. Or create another ring. "

"No reason not to do both." He said. "back up. Is there enough to make one for you as well?" Damon asked. "Embed a little essence of vervain in it. Should work by the same principle and it would keep you safe as well."

"Matching rings? People will talk." She said laughing, but it was a good idea.

"Let em" Damon said with a shrug. "No one needs to know what they are for. I do mean no one."

She looked at him quizzically.

"Taking to heart the warning of a friend of mine." He told her. "He said to watch out, people are changing. He likes you though."

"Ah the man I saw at your house. He does what he can to watch over Jeremy as well. He was just beaten out of vicinity when the kid was swarmed."

"Ric… the real him… was a good guy." He explained the rest of the story as they walked back to the house.

"And this is why my mother warned me off of vampires." She said. "You are nonstop drama. Fortunately for you I never listen to my mother."

Damon opened the door for her and let her inside he smiled as she spotted the flowers on the table. He loved the way her face lit up when she smiled, the girlish way she rushed to scoop them up and breathe in their scent. There was so much he loved about her. Now if he could just actually learn to love HER.

"They're perfect, " she told him going to get a vase to put them in.

"That mean I'm forgiven?" He asked going to get a glass of bourbon.

"There was never anything to forgive. I wasn't mad at you for not loving me, Damon." She said. "I was mad at me for forcing you to feel the same."

"I knew the difference between real and unreal, Sacha."

"Doesn't matter now." She said. "We're okay. You have your free will again and we have a compromise on the whole protecting you from other necromancers thing. "

"Yes. However my brother can keep drinking the stuff along with the vervain." He said.

She set the flowers on the island separating the kitchen from the rest of the house, and admired them a moment longer before walking over to him. "Thank you."

"You're welcome" He said caressing her face. He wasn't in love with her, but he did love her and even if he could never fall the rest of the way, he'd make sure she never knew. He had spent his entire life chasing after a woman he could never have. He'd do whatever it took to make sure she never knew that pain.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter seven

"I'm sorry it didn't work." Alexandra said dosing his breakfast and handing it to him. She was still feeling her way with Damon now. It was different. She'd never felt insecure with him before. She wasn't sure she liked that part of it.

"It's alright. You tried. We'll figure something out." Damon said as he downed the blood in one shot making a face as he did so. "In the mean time you have students dying to pick up that accent of yours and I have a brother to make amends to. Or at least furniture that needs to be replaced at the house."

"Alright, do you want a ride into town?" She asked as she finished tidying up the kitchen.

"Absolutely." Damon said and went to close his arms around her as she worked at the sink. He pulled her close and leaned in to nibble at her ear. "I'll pick up a few things while I'm at the house. Think you can spare a drawer? Or do I need to pick up another dresser. "

"I don't know where we would put another dresser." She said laughing lightly. "Let's try for a drawer for now. Although there is room for a smallish one in the bathroom."

"I'll see what I can find today." He told her and kissed her hair. "I think you're right about the bathroom."

"I don't know when I will be done today. The Valentines dance is coming up and they are trying to rope teachers into helping."

"oooh just say no. We'll be on chaperone duty anyway and you will need your rest. We've got bad dance karma around here." He laughed a little. "Almost everything bad that happens here starts at either a school dance or some social event planned by the founders Counsel."

"I thought you were part of that. The counsel I mean."

"I am. Now that Evil Alaric's plan to take over has been undone by Elijah. Still not sure its safe but I go anyway and they all stare. It's pretty funny really. I would take you along but well… I don't want Elijah's attention on you."

"I can handle myself. Besides I have a feeling we will be meeting soon enough. Parent teacher conferences are in two weeks. I doubt he will miss the opportunity to talk to me, especially if they are behind the other necromancer."

"Good point. Let me know when that is. Stefan and I will be there."

"That's not generally how those meetings work you know." She said slipping out of his arms to grab her bag.

"True. Usually the students are younger than the teacher and aren't in school merely to spy and make people miserable." Damon said.

"Okay you two can be there. " She laughed. "Now come on. I'm going to be late." She gave him the keys to her car, letting him drive.

"Want me to meet you for lunch?" He asked.

"Not today. I have a quick errand to run. I have an idea about how to make the rings work but it requires a witch and Bonnie does not like me."

"That's probably because she doesn't like me. I turned her mother to stop a ritual and she apparently took that personally. I don't know why the woman abandoned her for crying out loud." Damon said with a shrug.

"People are funny about their mothers," She told him, "even the ones that abandon them."

"I guess." He said turning toward town "never been much of a problem for me." He looked over at her. "So you have a lead on a witch who will help?"

"I think so yes." She said. "I need to send a message to her. That's my errand today. "

"Good luck. I had forgotten how horrible that stuff makes everything taste, "Damon said. "It would be worth it to be leeched dry if I could taste everything else again."

"You don't know what other necromancers are like, Damon. I'm a soft touch. Always have been. Its not worth the risk."

"I'm taking the stuff aren't I? You gave it to me yourself. "

"I know. I'm sorry." She said. "Guess this is what they call being blessed with understanding. Here I am worried sick about what another necromancer could do to you and you're worried what Elijah could do to me."

"The only down side to our relationship. We both bring enemies to the party." Damon said.

"We're going to have to work at narrowing down our guest list." She told him as he parked the car in the teacher's parking lot.

"I like the way you think." He purred and leaned in to kiss her, not caring that there were people looking into the car as they passed. "I'll see you after school."

Stefan pulled Bonnie aside in the halls. "Were you able to find anything?" He asked.

She shook her head. "Not yet, no. But I will." She said. "I have a lot of books to go through and grimoires aren't exactly set up in any logical order."

Stefan nodded. "Maybe I should just lock him in the cellar until we sort this out."

"All you will do let her know you're on to her. She'd bust him out and they'd disappear." Which would suit her just fine but she knew that Stefan would hunt Damon down if that happened and that would take the situation completely out of her control and she had little enough of that as it was.

Stefan sighed. "You're right. I have to just keep an eye on him and hope that we can actually break him free of her."

"Have you told Elena?"

Stefan shook his head. "She'd just feel guilty. He called Alex out here because he was having a hard time dealing with the fact that she chose me. "

Bonnie sighed. "Well, then we just keep this between us until I find a way to free him."

"Thank you, Bonnie. You don't know how much I appreciate this."

"He's family. Family is important." Bonnie told him and walked away to get to class. Family was very important and Damon was responsible for the loss of her grandmother and her mother being turned. She would never forgive that. If things went her way, he'd be either dead or an outcast before the year was out. For now having another wedge between him and Stefan would have to do.

Damon looked up as his front door opened. "What are you doing home, Brother? Are you cutting class?" he asked as he picked up another armload of books to put back on the righted bookcase.

"I forgot something this morning. Figured I'd get something to eat before going back to class." Stefan said. "I can stay and help if you want."

"I got it. " Damon said

"So you didn't come back this weekend does that mean you and Alex are back to normal?"

"Flowers did the trick. Thank you. Although I should have known that myself. I just never figured her for the soft and flowery romance type."

Stefan chuckled although he felt his stomach knot up as he thought about all the parts of a relationship that Damon was effectively being forced into. He'd kill her. If that's what he had to do he'd do it. He smiled a little slower than he should have. "Good. I'm glad."

"No you're not." Damon said frowning. "Come on. Out with it. You've never been slow to voice disapproval before."

If it was possible for a vampire to look like a deer caught in the headlights, Stefan did. " I… worry that maybe it's too soon after Elena is all. I don't want either of you to get hurt."

Damon laughed. "You're funny." He told Stefan. "Relax. I'm still in love with your girl. Don't see that changing. " he shook his head, putting another armload of books on the shelf.

"Well, I hope it changes eventually, but I do understand it takes time. You don't have to fake that for me. I don't feel threatened. She made her choice."

"I told you I'd respect her choice." Damon shrugged. "I'm happy with Alexandra." He told Stefan, wanting to reassure his brother. There was something bugging him, and Damon didn't know what. He could only assume it had to do with Elena. "I've always been happy when I'm with her. I'm willing to see where that goes."

"When did you grow up?" Stefan asked, smiling, even though it didn't reach his eyes. Normally this would be one of the best things he could hear from Damon. Something not laced with pain, bourbon and resentment, something that said he was looking at life and maybe even love with something resembling maturity. Instead it broke his heart because when Damon was free he'd never trust those feelings again.

"Long before you did." Damon said, "What's wrong?" He asked.

"Nothing." Stefan lied. "Things are just tense right now is all. Elena is worried about Jeremy and wants me to fix it. "

"She doesn't need to worry about Jeremy. Alex says he's doing great." Damon told him, knowing that Stefan had just lied to him. Were they starting that again? Well at least it wasn't him that fell off the honesty wagon this time. "So who am I taking hunting tonight?" He asked. He'd get one of them drunk and find out what was going on.

"You want to do something tonight? Sure. " Stefan laughed. "It's either that or go help with the preparations for the Valentines dance."

"I don't know… Caroline and pink glitter. You might want to go save Elena before she comes out looking like a Disney channel reject." He teased.

"I think she can face the peril." Stefan said. "So Eight O'clock good? "

"Absolutely. " It would give him time to spend a little time with Sacha first.

"I'll meet you back here then." Stefan said and headed up the stairs to his room to grab the homework he had forgotten.

Caroline frowned as Bonnie went to sit at another table to work on the decorations for the dance. She had been distant since the night they'd discovered their French teacher was a necromancer. Bonnie had been so angry that they had trusted the woman that she hadn't talked to any of them for the rest of the weekend. Her phone had been turned off and she was nowhere to be found.

Since then they had become little more than acquaintances. There was something a little sad in the other girls eyes too, and that made Caroline more worried than angry.

Elena noticed the split and sighed. She remembered being the odd man out at the beginning of the year. She didn't know why Bonnie was avoiding Caroline now. It was almost as if she was distancing herself, expecting there to be trouble.

"Hey." She said sitting down with Caroline. "She'll come around. She always does. She's just stressed right now I guess."

"That's when you need to be closer to your friends, not avoiding them. " Caroline said, handing over the paper hearts to be decorated and then strung on ribbons.

"I know." She said. "Jeremy has to work tomorrow so he's not going to take her to the dance. "

"Ouch." Caroline said. "Okay, when we are done with all the decorating tonight, we pick up double chocolate ice cream, Brownies and whipped cream, and then we go get Bonnie. That is so definitely a chocolate overload problem ."

Elena smiled. "I like that plan. I'd be on my own tonight otherwise. Stefan and Damon are having a brotherly bonding night. "

"ooh definitely don't want to be around that. They tend to bond over stakes and tree trunks and things." Caroline laughed.

"They're actually getting along better now."

"That's because Damon is happy. " Caroline said. " Who knew he was capable, but he is. I think it's great."

"Yeah." Elena said, "Me too," Although for some reason she wasn't. She really wasn't.

Alexandra held Damon's hand as they walked. There was no particular destination in mind. They were just walking to be walking. She could remember a time when that was a nightly event. Just walking the French Quarter, doing nothing but talking about nothing.

Well that part had been rare even then. There was almost always something happening somewhere that had to be dealt with, avoided or exploited. So the times that they spent just talking about the mundane things in life were special.

"We look old." He said grinning at her.

"We are old." She said laughing at him. "Remember when all that you would find wandering the parks were young couples making eyes at each other."

"I remember eating those couples." Damon pointed out.

"I remember our first walk together. You tried to eat me."

"Then promptly passed out, and woke up tied to a chair." He said nodding. "Not our best date."

"But the dancing had been incredible."

Damon placed his hand at her waist and moved gracefully, whirling her around with him, until she laughed with delight. He loved that sound. More than anything else he loved that it was meant for him and that she wasn't secretly wishing it was Stefan who was taking her breath away.

"You're spoiling me again. " She said once they stopped.

"And now the rules don't apply." He told her. "you'll just have to learn to live with it."

"How will I ever manage."

Stefan watched from a distance. Everything he saw told him that his brother was happy. He wanted to believe that this was what he wanted and no amount of black magic could turn a slave into a happy man. Maybe Bonnie was wrong. Maybe the ghost who spoke to Jeremy lied, or was just being insulting…

But this wasn't Damon. He'd never seen him act like this. He had seen almost every aspect of his brother there was from homicidal to suicidal and everything in between. He'd seen him with Katherine, and Elena, and he had loved both of them with everything he had in him. Stefan had no doubt of that. But he had never seen Damon like this.

He needed more information. There were too many conflicting details. He took one last look at the couple before turning to go back to the house to wait for Damon to show up.

Damon paused and scanned the area. "Did you feel that? Like we're being watched?"

"I hate to break it to you but people stare when couples are being cute." She pointed out but she had felt it too. They exchanged a look and continued on. She scanned the area as well but spotted no one. "Be careful when you are out tonight." She said softly.

"I'll be with Stefan. I'll be fine." Damon figured the two of them could take on almost anything and come out the other side one way or another. "Speaking of which I should get going. "

"Are you coming back to my place or staying home tonight." She asked.

"I think I'll stay home. With any luck Stefan and I will drag in drunk and stupid just short of dawn." He told her.

"I hope so. I feel like I'm keeping you away from him."

"No. Believe me it's not you keeping me away. "Damon said. "Just hoping that we can get through a night without talking about Elena." Talking about Elena was fine. Talking about how he felt about her was another thing.

"So just don't talk about her." She said standing on her toes to kiss him lightly. "Go have fun with your brother. I'll see you tomorrow."

"I'll walk you back to your car." He said.

"I'm a big girl. I can find my car all by myself." She told him.

"Be careful." He told her and was gone in the blink of an eye.

The air was crisp and she shivered a little as it seemed to suddenly cut through her thick sweater. The clouds that had been a solid swath of light gray were darkening in patches and growing thicker, more textured. The storm was coming in quickly.

Alexandra leaned into the increasing wind, and hurried toward her car. With one hand she held her hair out of her face so that she could see and with the other she struggled to put the key into the driver's side door.

"Allow me." The voice was thickly accented, deep tones, without a doubt masculine, as was the hand that covered hers, another at her back to steady her in the wind. "It seems the wind is winning, Miss Sauveterre."

She pulled her hand away and looked up at the man. He was tall, a broadly built man. "Do I know you?" She asked loudly against the wind, although she knew already who she was looking at. The bone jewelry that he wore even though discrete was obvious to anyone who knew what to look for.

"I knew your father. " He told her. "I had heard that he taught his daughters our path. It is unfortunate he had no sons." He did not mean it as an insult to the woman. But Necromancers were a chauvinistic lot. The Sauveterre line would die with his daughters even if they were to have children. Not merely the mortal line, but the line of Necromancers as well. "However, you are as lovely as your mother, so it is not a complete loss."

"Who are you?" She asked, yelling against the wind. "What do you want?"

"My name is Timon." He answered, looking her over with nearly black eyes. "What I want is for you to leave town. Take your vampire if you must but go."

"Why?" She asked. "Why are you looking for Tyler Lockwood. You are the practitioner looking yes?"

He leaned in close to be heard over the growing wind "I am warning you because of the affection I have for your parents. That is all you need to know, Girl. You think you are powerful but you are not. If you fight me you will die. "He gripped her chin. "Do you understand me?" He demanded. "Leave Mystic Falls."

He released her chin, not waiting for an answer he took her keys from her hand and opened her door for her. "Good bye Alexandra. "He said pointedly. "Tell your mother of the deep affection I have for her."

Alex closed the door and locked it. She started the car and pulled out of the parking space, barely stopping before rear ending an approaching car. She drove home pushing the speed limit the entire way. She considered calling Damon but decided against it. She would tell him tomorrow. There was no danger that night. It wasn't as though she was going to leave town, with or without Damon. Such a warning … or threat… did nothing but make her angry, very angry. And if the man knew anything about either of her parents he would know that they would have never taught her to back down from anyone or anything.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter eight

Stefan wasn't as drunk as he was pretending to be. He kept Damon's glass full as they played first pool then darts. He never understood how Damon could be falling down drunk and still beat him at darts. Of course Damon spent a good deal of his time drunk or fast getting there.

"I'm gonna ask her to marry me." Stefan said and winced as Damon's dart hit the board hard enough to embed all the way.

"I'm sure she'll say yes, so congratulations, Brother." Damon said, sincerely even though it tore at his insides to think of her marrying him.

"I know it might be asking too much under the circumstances but, if she says yes, will you be my best man? If it's too much just say so." Stefan said.

"Yeah, hell yeah. " Damon said grinning at him. "What? You think a little thing like being the better man for the job is gonna keep me from standing up for you?"

Stefan laughed a little. "Thank you." He said waiting for Damon to get his darts from the board before throwing his own. "I know we talked about the one she didn't choose leaving town. I'm glad you stuck around. "

"Yeah, me too. " he said and turned around to pick up his drink, wondering why Stefan was trying so hard to get him drunk. Something was definitely going on with little brother and he didn't think it had anything to do with asking Elena to marry him.

"So why is it you have never mentioned Alex before?" Stefan asked as he went to retrieve his darts.

"Ah so that is what this is about. You want to pump me for information about my girlfriend." Damon said shaking his head. "You can't have this one. " He said mostly teasing.

"I'm not interested in her that way. I've just… never seen you like this before. I don't want you to get hurt . "

"Are you feeling alright? Someone bounce you off your head? I know it wasn't me. Well not since you were a baby anyway, " Damon said stepping closer to his brother. "You never worry about me getting hurt. You worry about me hurting someone else. I'm always the bad guy in your head. So why don't you tell me what this is really about."

Stefan took a deep breath and opened his mouth to speak, but it wasn't his voice that carried the next words.

"I can tell you want he wants to know." It was Kol Michaelsen and both brothers sighed in frustration. "He wants to know about your new fang bunny." He said. "He wants to know if she sucks the marrow from the bones of the dead. They say that about necromancers you know. That they feast on the dead and that once she's had a taste you belong to her forever. Like a cocke spaniel. "

"Where did you get that from, the internet?" Damon scoffed and tossed his first dart to keep from doing what he really wanted to do. "I see you forgot your baseball bat."

"Damon." It was Stefan's don't start anything voice. Damon had forgotten how much that tone irritated him . It really irritated him. Almost as much as the sound of Kol breathing.

"They also say that the female of the species, it really is a species you know, is weak in power. No match for the real thing. " Kol said.

"Is this because you're mad that I did your sister?" Damon said tossing the last of his darts and turning to face Kol nose to nose and pressing in closer still. "twice."

Kol chuckled. " Rebecca's a whore. I hear that Ripper here had her first while Klaus watched. " Kol shrugged. " That's three now isn't it? Three women you've shared with your brother. Oh, that's why he's poking about asking questions about necromancers. " he looked to Stefan "Are you scoping out your brothers girl?" He laughed.

"What do you want Kol? " Stefan asked putting a hand on Damon's chest to keep him from lunging at Kol. They didn't need a public fight. There was only so far the truce with the counsel would go.

The original laughed "Not a thing. Just out to have a quiet drink. "

"Maybe you should go do that." Stefan told him

Damon grabbed his jacket and pushed past Kol, shoving the man out of the way. "Come on. I'm done here." He said heading for the parking lot and his car. If he didn't walk away now he was going to do something Stefan would regret.

Stefan followed. "He's just trying to push your buttons." He said catching up to his brother.

"Now why is it that everyone seems to think that's the time NOT to hit someone in the head? It's the perfect time to hit someone in the head."

"Even if it's what they want?"

"She's going to die you know." Kol called out.

Damon stopped and turned to face the other vampire. Why had the son of a bitch followed him out here? Why did he keep pushing buttons when he knew it wasn't going to end well?

"Walk away Kol." Stefan said and sighed as Damon was back in Kol's face in an instant. "And I might as well be talking to myself." he grumbled.

"What did you say?" Damon growled.

"I said your woman is weak and she is going to die." Kol said.

Damon didn't pause to think. He didn't consider the possible ramifications. He reached up with lightening quick reflexes and snapped Kol's neck. "That's what I thought you said." He turned to walk away looking up at the crow perched on the telephone wire and nodded to it. The crow took flight silently.

"I'll drive." Stefan said heading for the driver's side door.

Damon tossed him the keys and got into the passenger's side. He pulled out his cell phone and called Alexandra. "Damn it." He said when it went straight to voice mail . "Call me when you get this. It's important." He hung up and fidgeted while Stefan drove.

"She'll be alright." Stefan told his brother. "He's probably just yanking your chain."

"Why would he think that's a good plan? Has that ever ended well?" Damon hit redial and hung up when once more it went to voice mail.

Alexandra had been on the phone with her mother since she had returned home. Timon had spooked her, and more than that he had made her angry.

"He won't hurt you. I am sure he just doesn't want you interfering with whatever he has going on. Timon is melodramatic, he's Greek for pity's sake, but I don't believe for a moment he would risk my displeasure." Julianna Sauveterre told her daughter.

"You do realize the aristocracy lost the revolution right?" She asked stepping off of her porch into the yard. Something felt off. "It's entirely possible that people don't worry about your displeasure anymore."

"Did he or did he not tell you to send his affection." Julianna said.

"Yes, mo-" the phone dropped from her hand and clattered across the ground. Alex cried out as she was knocked to the ground and someone embedded his fangs in her shoulder.

The vampire rolled off of her "What-" He got out confused by his sudden weakness.

"That would be the Vervain, idiot." She said pulling a bone shaft the length of a stake from her coat pocket and plunged it into the nearly unconscious vampire's abdomen. She winced as her shoulder started to stiffen.

The crow cawed and dived at the second vampire, talons clawing at his eyes. The bird retreated and attacked again, and again.

Alexandra could see shadows moving in the distance. She pulled the ornately carved bone from her attacker. The blood that did not flow smoothly down the shaft seemed to be absorbed into its sleek surface.

She drew the blade across both palms, letting her blood drop to the ground. Boney hands reached up through the dirt and clawed at the legs of the undead as they approached. Hands from below and talons from above dropped the last two vampires to the ground and held them there.

"What the hell?" She asked looking up at the crow, knowing who it belonged to. "I'm alright." She told it. "I'm alright." She said again, sinking to the ground herself.

The Crow swooped in closer to her, head tilting to one direction then the other.

"I'm alright." She repeated a little breathlessly and rotated her shoulder, "Damn that hurts." She muttered.

The crow flew away as the car sped up the drive. Damon was out of the car and running to her side before Stefan had come to a complete stop. He looked her over and eased the coat off of her shoulder.

"It's just a bite, I'm fine." She said.

"This doesn't look fine." He told her both of them ignoring the sounds of her mother demanding that someone speak to her coming from the phone on the ground.

Stefan staked the vampires held down by the dead, trying to dodge the hands that groped blindly for him. Although once their prey was dead, they let go, and sank back into the earth.

"Not that one." Alex said as Damon helped her to her feet. "I have his blood. I want to question him… tomorrow." She said leaning against her lover as the exhaustion began to settle in.

"We can take him back to our place." Stefan said. "lock him in the basement."

"Easy." Damon said taking her over to the porch and easing her down on the steps. He grabbed up the cell phone from the ground. "Jules." He said worriedly.

The woman made a groaning sound. "Of course it's you. Put Alexandra on the phone."

"I have a question first. Do you know of any toxin that can be delivered by vampire bite to a necromancer?" He asked, looking at the wound that was starting to fester already.

"And why would I tell you that?"

"Because Sacha's been bitten. " Damon told her "And she doesn't look good. "

"I'm fine." Alexandra said in frustration, even as she leaned against porch post.

"Is the vampire that bit her available to you. " Julianna asked.

"Yeah. He's vervained. "Damon said motioning for Stefan to go to the unconscious vampire. "What do you need?" He asked.

"Look at its mouth, be careful not be bitten or to get its blood on you just in case. I cannot believe she is back with you. " Julianna said. "You are trouble on two legs."

"Stefan, look in that guys mouth and tell me what you see. Don't get anything on you or punctured." Damon told him, rolling his eyes at Julianna. "Don't hold back, MOM. Tell me how you really feel."

Alexandra laughed a little at that.

"His gums are black and his fangs haven't retracted even though he's unconscious." Stefan said stepping back.

Julianna swore in archaic French. "Have there been any sudden brief storms lately?" she asked.

"What? Yes, this afternoon. It lasted maybe 10 minutes, what does that have to do with anything?" Damon asked, pressing his hand to Alexandra's forehead. "She's burning up. What do I do?"

"Don't give her your blood to heal her. It will kill her. The poison is tied in with vampire blood. It was created by a witch, and the vampire who bit her would have had to transition on human blood that was infected. The creature has to be destroyed and the corpse burned, and it has to be done nowhere near where she is going to frequent. " Julianna said. "Now listen to me carefully. Do you know where she keeps her supplies?"

"Yes." Damon motioned for Stefan to come closer. "Stay with Alex," He said and ran toward the mausoleum. "Okay I'm there what do I need?"

Julianna gave him a list of ingredients. "Alright, you've worked with her before. Please tell me she taught you the basics when you were first in service to her."

"Yeah, yeah I know how to mix things. Just tell me what to do and I'll do it."

Bonnie was actually enjoying herself. Things were looking up for the first time in months. She was finally able to relax around Caroline and feel like she was a normal girl. The chocolate overload the girls had brought over helped as well.

She was surprised when her cell phone rang that late. She looked at the number and forced a smile. "Jamie, Hi. " She said, "I'll be right back." She told Elena and Caroline and went out the back door to be out of the range of vampiric hearing.

"Is it done?" Tyler's voice asked.

"I don't know. I haven't heard anything." She answered. "You can't just call me. Elena and Caroline are here, what if they heard your voice?"

"Caroline is there with you?" Klaus asked and Bonnie could hear the smile in his voice.

"You can't be thinking about her that way. She'll never believe that you are Tyler, and trust me, neither of us will ever win her back if she finds out who you really are."

"Let me worry about that, Sweetheart." Klaus said. "First we make sure the necromancers are dealt with."

"I'll call you when I hear anything." Bonnie said. She ended the call and went back inside, again forcing the smile. Leave it to Klaus to ruin a perfectly good night.

There was a knock at the door and she looked to the girls incredulously. "I am popular tonight." She said and opened the door to see Matt and Jeremy standing there.

"We're not too late are we?" Jeremy asked as they came inside. He hugged Bonnie close. "I'm sorry about tomorrow night." He said.

"That's okay, you're here now." She told him.

"Caroline said it was a chocolate theme. So I brought chocolate vodka. I've never had it. Heard it's good though." Matt said.

"Well aren't you just the man who thinks of everything." Caroline said smiling at her former boyfriend.

Damon hurried back to the house. "Here, stuff these in their mouths. Kill that one too. He could be infectious." He told his brother, handing over 4 bundles of several herbs. "Hey, babe, come on, I need you to wake up and drink this." He told her setting the cell phone aside and pulling her gently into his arms so that he could help her drink. "Come on, it's your mother's recipe, it can't be all bad" he said pouring it down her throat. "That's my girl."

He picked up the cell phone again. "I've got it down her. How long before it takes effect?" he asked worriedly.

"Soon." Julianna said, and he could hear that she was pacing.

"I'm going to take her inside." He said to both her and Stefan. Damon gently lifted his lover into his arms and carried her inside. Kol had told him, knowing he'd be too late to stop the attack. Probably figured he'd give her blood to heal and ultimately kill her. It had been stupid blind luck that she had been on the phone to her mother at the time. Nothing but luck had saved her.

He laid her on the bed and began to remove her clothing, throwing the blood stained shirt and coat into the fireplace. He put her in comfortable pajamas with narrow straps so that he could watch the wound. It wasn't healing but the discoloration faded.

He described what was happening to Julianna. "This should be healing. The house is built over an old cemetery. "

"The antidote seems to be working though. Does she seem in pain?"

"No, she's sleeping now." He said.

"Good. Call me if she worsens, have her call me if she wakes. I don't care the time. Don't make me come up there to check on her myself."

Damon laughed tiredly. "Don't worry, I will do whatever it takes to keep you out of Mystic Falls." He told her in complete honesty and ended the call. He covered Alexandra and walked back to the front door. "Sorry man, she's out cold and I can't invite you in." he said stepping out onto the porch and taking a seat.

"That's okay. I got the bodies bundled up and in the trunk. I'll take care of disposing of them." Stefan said as he joined his brother on the porch.

"Leave one for me." Damon said darkly.

"How is she?"

"She's recovering but she's not healing." Damon said. "This place is built over the old Fell's Church cemetery. She should be getting better. "

"What about you, can't she draw from you?" Stefan asked. "She drew energy from Caroline."

He shook his head and explained that he was taking something she had put together so that she didn't leech from him every time they touched.

"I'm not." Stefan offered.

"When the poison is clear, we'll give it a shot. Julianna said not to give her blood it would make the poison worse. I'd rather not risk it keying in on our energy too."

Stefan nodded. "You think it was the Originals."

"I don't believe in coincidence, and who else do we know with access to very powerful witches?"

Stefan again nodded. "Okay. I'll go get someone to keep an eye on Alex and we'll take care of it. "

"Okay." Damon said going back inside to lie down beside her while he waited. He stroked her hair, watching the wound, willing it to close and fade to just another faint scar.

He looked up hearing the car in the drive some time later. He got out of bed and adjusted the covers again.

"Hello?" It was Meredith Fell. How strangely appropriate.

"Come on in." He said walking out to meet her. "Alex is in the bedroom." Damon ran a hand through his dark hair. "Call me if anything changes. I won't be too long." He said

"Take as long as you need. I'll see what I can do while you're gone." Meredith told him. Her license had been the one thing Elijah had not been able to fix. But she was fighting it. As long as the council wasn't fighting as well she should be able to get it cleared up. In the meantime this was something she could do. Someone she could help.

"Thank you." He said pulling on his jacket and going out to meet his brother.

The first thing Elijah noticed was the loud thunk on the front door. Then came the stench of burning flesh. He pulled the door open and backed away from the intense heat, nearly gagging at the strange smell underneath it all.

Damon stood in the driveway, waiting. "Just returning your property. " He called out to the older man. "She has no part of our feud. You never should have touched her."

Elijah strode forward and struck Damon across the face, sending him flying. "I have touched no one."

"No, you sent your plague rat to do it for you." Stefan said and the brothers instantly began to work in concert against Elijah. Two against one was nowhere near fair odds, Elijah was a thousand years old. He was no easy mark, and if he was in earnest he could destroy them without half trying, but they had bested him before, and that overconfidence coupled with Damon's rage fueled them.

Stefan dodged a blow, ducking around and behind, bringing a knife up under Elijah's rib cage, his other arm wrapping around the man's neck.

Damon stepped closer, plunging the white oak stake into his stomach, intentionally missing his heart. "It's just that easy." He hissed. "You don't touch my family, you don't touch my woman or my friends. "

"I don't know what you are talking about." Elijah said and groaned as Stefan twisted the knife. "You have my word."

"Your word?" Damon scoffed. "Right, whatever." He nodded to Stefan and they removed their weapons at the same time. The brothers were gone.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter nine

Damon woke to the smell of coffee brewing in the kitchen. Alexandra was still sleeping hard, the wound looked a little better but that was because of what Meredith had done the night before. He eased out of the bed and padded into the living room in his pants and no shirt.

"Hey, you stayed." He said spotting Meredith in the kitchen.

"I'm not going anywhere until she's better." She said. "Apparently neither are they " She nodded toward the front porch, where Stefan, Elena and Caroline sat waiting. "They wanted to make sure there wasn't a second strike." She said handing him a cup of coffee.

"Thanks." He said reaching across a sun beam streaming in through the kitchen windows and cried out in pain, dropping the coffee cup as the sun burned his arm. "What the hell?!" He tentatively reached out again and as expected he was scorched.

"Are you alright?" Elena asked worriedly from the door.

"My ring doesn't work." He said moving quickly to the door and outside onto the shaded porch. He stepped over his sleeping brother, and steeled himself before putting his hand out into the patch of sunlight. He swore as there was no damage taken. "Emily" He growled "You get the hell out of my house."

"What are you talking about?" Caroline asked.

"The only being that can make my ring not work, is Emily Bennett. She does it all the time at the Witch house." Damon said. "If she's keeping Sacha from healing …"

"We'll take her to our place. " Stefan said sitting up and wiping the crust from his eyes. He'd only had about an hour to nap. "I'd feel safer there. "

Damon nodded. "I'll go get her." He said motioning for Meredith to move away from the door, before he sped inside as quickly as he could. He scooped Alexandra into his arms, grabbing her cell phone as well. He would have to call Julianna once they were settled.

He reversed the process, running out to the porch once more, breathing a sigh of relief to be back where his ring worked again.

"I'll pack some things for her and meet you over at the bed and breakfast." Meredith said.

"Thank you." Damon said, carrying Alexandra to his car. "Caroline, can you ride with us? I want someone in back with her."

"Yeah, okay." She said, "I'll see you guys there." Caroline grabbed her purse from the porch and followed Damon out. "Do you think it's safe for me to touch her now? Stefan explained that we had to wait because of the poison."

"I think so. " Damon said "If it starts looking bad again, pull back."

Caroline nodded. "Okay." She said getting into the back seat first and then helping him ease Alexandra into the car, with the woman's head in her lap. She gently stroked her brow, ran her hand down her arm.

Damon looked in the rear view mirror at the two of them. "Thank you." He told her. "This is the second time you've helped me take care of her. I owe you." He pulled out of the driveway and started back toward town and his own house.

"You don't owe me. " Caroline said. "I like who you are when you're with her, I think we all do. Besides, she promised to help Tyler and I believe her."

It was on the tip of his tongue to say something caustic. He wanted to burst her bubble and tell her that nothing was different. To him nothing had changed. But he decided not to and told himself it was because he was too tired to argue .

He pulled into the driveway and parked near the door. Caroline helped ease her out of the back seat and back into Damon's surprisingly gentle arms. He carried her inside and up to his room where he tucked her into his bed and sat waiting.

He hadn't taken the drugs that morning. He'd be able to feed her himself soon. He smiled a little sadly at Caroline who climbed into the bed with them and nestled in close to Alexandra. "You know if the circumstances were different, I'd have a lot to say right now."

Caroline laughed softly. "You are so bad." She teased.

"Hey, I've got a reputation to uphold. So just saying… damn." Damon took Sacha's hand in both of his.

"As if." Caroline said "Did you really nail a corpse to Elijah's door and set it on fire?" She could hear the other cars pulling into the driveway.

"I really did."

"Not the most amazing thing I have ever heard of a guy doing for a girl but it's pretty up there." Declaring war on creatures that could kill all of them in a blink if they wanted to was pretty ballsy.

"Well not everyone can break every bone in their body a hundred times over." Damon said then sighed. "I really did try and keep Klaus alive."

"I know." Caroline said. "I know."

Meredith came in first carrying a bag of Alex's things and her first aid bag. "How's she doing? Her color looks a little better."

"Caroline's giving her strength." Damon said, wishing his system would clear of the herbs faster.

Elena sat on the side of the bed and took Alexandra's free hand. She might share Bonnie's distrust of the woman but she couldn't bear the tormented look in Damon's eyes. It tore her heart apart to see him look adoringly at another woman but it was even harder to see how much it hurt him to have come so close to losing her.

Stefan took a post as well, his hand just up the arm from Damon's. "We'll take care of her." He promised his brother.

"As much as I would rather swim through vervain and razor blades I need to call her mother." Damon said and rose from the bed, letting Stefan take over his post. With the three of them giving she was looking better. Which meant something was blocking her from feeding at Fell's Church. Combined with his ring not working he had a sinking feeling he knew what witch had created the poison, although for the life of him he couldn't figure out why. He could understand Bonnie lashing out at him, but why Alexandra? Why would she work with the originals?

He stepped out into the hall and down the stairs to the parlor where he poured himself a glass of bourbon, even though it was still early, and dialed Julianna's number.

"Alexandra?" She asked, recognizing the number.

"No. " Damon said quietly. "She's still sleeping. " he explained what was happening, and his suspicions. "So the question I have for you is how do I stop her? "

"From what you've said it's entirely possible your witch is not completely in control of herself. She's tapped into something incredibly powerful but any spirit that lingers in between for too long risks madness. Make sure that the living witch is indeed the one responsible before condemning her. Trust that those words are not easily said by me."

"I know." Damon said. He knew from experience how fiercely protective Julianna was of her daughters. "How do I keep her and the ghost off of the property?"

"Rowan boughs wrapped with red thread. " She said. "Horse shoes nailed up." Julianna then told him how to protect the households from curses and spells. "She told me that she let you go again. Yet here you are protecting her."

"After the first few years it wasn't necessary. She's my friend. Maybe more I don't know."

"Interesting. " She said. "Call me when she wakens. " Julianna ended the call.

Damon put the cell phone on the mantle and pulled out his own. He called the florist and arranged for a large number of rowan bows, angelica, as well as magnolia's and night blooming jasmine. The latter was not for getting rid of witches.

He walked up the stairs slowly. He thought of how to tell Elena that Bonnie was apparently working with the people that had repeatedly tried to kill her. He just couldn't find a way to do it, especially since he had no proof.

Julianna was right; the girl had been manipulated and even possessed by Emily Bennett before. It might not even be her fault. He needed more information before he acted, even though every instinct in him screamed to just go and break her witchy neck.

He needed to talk to Stefan. Bonnie trusted Stefan more than she did him. He might be able to find out what was going on. He hoped that it was that she was being used. He didn't want to kill Elena's best friend, but he would if she was willingly responsible.

He entered his bedroom and found a place on the king sized bed to join the vampiric puppy pile. Alexandra stirred for the first time since her collapse and Damon let out a sigh of relief.

"Hey beautiful." He said smiling as she opened her eyes.

"Hey." She breathed quietly, taking in her surroundings.

Caroline eased out of the bed, and Damon slid in to fill the vacancy she created beside Alex, pulling her into his arms. "Don't scare me like that." He said kissing her hair.

Stefan motioned for the others to follow him out of the room and leave the couple alone. "I don't know about you two but I am exhausted. "

Elena nodded and slid her arms around Stefan, trying not to look back into the bedroom at the tender scene playing out on Damon's bed. "Conveniently there is another bedroom we can invade." She told him. She rested her head on his chest. "He almost lost her. It really was that close."

"I know." Stefan said. "He doesn't even realize he's in love."

"He is definitely in love." Caroline said smiling. She didn't mind looking back on the couple at all.

Stefan hoped it was the real thing. Part of him still worried about whether it was love or the emotional bond that a vampire felt for the necromancer who had bound him. "There are several open bedrooms. Why don't you find one and get some rest. " He told her. At least Alex wasn't feeding from him. Maybe there was genuine affection going both ways, perhaps in spite of the bond that Bonnie was sure was there.

Caroline nodded, "I will. Thank you."

Stefan led Elena down the hall toward his room.

* * *

Bonnie paced the confines of the old slave's quarters on the Lockwood property. It hadn't worked. None of it had worked. She had been so careful to make sure that every possible escape was covered. She'd done everything right and still the woman was alive and now Klaus was in town. Not just a voice on the phone but in town and demanding to meet her. Everything was falling apart around her ears.

She had done what she had to do in order to save them all. It hadn't been an easy decision. It was one that haunted her sleep every night even before Damon had summoned his necromancer to Mystic Falls. Every time she looked at Caroline it ate at her conscience.

If they found out what she had done to Tyler …

"I would have thought that with all you have accomplished, you could slay a female necromancer." Klaus said. It was Tyler's voice, but the arrogant delivery was all Klaus.

"It should have worked." She said "You compelled someone to make the vampires and forget, I gave them the poisoned blood. She was bitten. Damon should have given her his blood to heal her. That's his answer to everything, shove blood down your throat." She said a bitterly. "It should have accelerated the poison and killed her."

"Why didn't it?" He demanded angrily.

"I don't know." Bonnie said. "Somehow they had the antidote or something. But according to the witches this isn't a poison that's known. It would take a powerful witch to sort out the remedy. I'm the only living witch in Mystic falls."

"Well apparently either you or they are mistaken." He said. "Is it possible to be a witch and a necromancer?" He asked.

Bonnie shook her head. "Not really. Magic ages them. They can reverse that if they consume enough death. But it's not something she should have been able to survive when that weak to begin with. "

"Can a vampire perform the necessary rituals?"

"Vampires cannot use magic. " Bonnie said. "It goes against nature. Its one of the balances."

"Necromancy is not witchcraft. " Klaus pointed out. "And until a few months ago, hybrids couldn't be created either. Nature isn't as inviolate as you might think. Bonnie. You are going to have to start thinking outside of the Bennett Box."

She glared at him. "The fact that you are alive is proof that I have already done that."

"Yes and for that I am grateful. Just remember you have more to lose than I do by the Salvatore's discovering our little arrangement. So get rid of that Necromancer before she starts revealing secrets." He told her. "You could have a long and promising career ahead of you at my side, but you need to prove to me that you are consistent in your powers."

"I don't want to work for you." She said looking him in the eyes. "I don't want anything to do with you once this is taken care of."

"Strange how that is precisely what you are doing." He told her. "I think perhaps you need to take a long hard look at what it is you really want in life. How much you are willing to sacrifice for your friends, and how much you are willing to reach out and take for yourself. There is an entire world out there to be seen. Help me convince Caroline and the three of us could see that world together. "

Bonnie shook her head. "I don't want to travel with you , and Caroline will stake you herself even if it means she goes down with you. She isn't in love with Tyler's body. She's in love with Tyler."

"She'll learn. As far as she needs to know Tyler is in here as well. But I am not ready yet. I need that final stake and you need to get rid of the necromancer. If you can't kill her make the others distrust her and they will get rid of her on their own. "

"I've tried convincing them that she's enslaved Damon but they don't completely buy it. "

"Because he is acting like a man who is falling in love, not a man who is bound. Make them see things differently. Make him act differently." Klaus said. "You should read more Shakespeare my girl. I would think Othello would be appropriate."

* * *

"Leave you alone for ten minutes and you are waking up in my brother's arms " Damon teased.

"Did I?" She said, snuggling in closer. "I hadn't noticed. Caroline I noticed… Elena I noticed… then there was you and I didn't look any further."

"Good." He said. "You're still grounded. No dance for you tonight." He closed his arms around her and kissed the top of her head.

She laughed quietly. "I'll be fine. How taxing can it be to chaperon a high school dance."

"You have no idea how bad our Dance Karma is." He said. "I don't want you there tonight. Don't make me call your mother."

"If you and my mother start getting along I'm going to hire an exorcist." Alexandra said.

"You can't do that?"

"I have no power over Demons." She said. "Vampires, zombies, ghouls, Specters, wraiths, poltergeists and any other ghost you can think of but Demons are not in the necromancer's handbook. My father was able to pull the soul from a body at the moment of death but I don't think that was completely necromantic. I think he had a little help from my mother. Hers was the soul in question"

"Do I even want to know?" He asked.

"My mother was born Julianna DuPre. She was a member of the royal court during the French revolution. My father, for some reason finding the job of executioner fitting for a necromancer, fell in love with her while she was awaiting execution. She agreed to marry him if he could save her life. His answer to that was to let the body die and keep the soul, and put it in another body. "

Damon was silent a moment. "Do you know what happened to the consciousness that was in the new body?"

"There was none. The body she is in belonged to a female necromancer. We're rare now, back then we were practically unheard of because no one taught their daughters. So when the abilities manifest in spite of lack of training you can get in over your head. Sometimes the ghosts if they are strong enough win, and it's effectively brain death by the time they are done. "

"Well that makes me feel all kinds of confident about your life style." Damon said.

"I'm strong enough. My father taught Yvette and me well." She said. "I also know when to pick my battles and when to draft this amazingly handsome vampire I know into service to help me." Her sister Avril was a witch like their mother.

"Amazingly handsome. I like the sound of that." Damon said grinning. "Still, no dancing for you."

She made a mock frustrated growl "You are no fun."

He looked at her worriedly. "I almost lost you. " he told her. "If you hadn't been on the phone with Julianna, you would have died. Everything I know to do to save you would have killed you."

"I'm alright, Damon. I promise you I am fine." She paused. "I met the other necromancer in the park after you left. " She told him.

"Sacha, why didn't you call me? "

"Because there was no point. He was telling me to leave town and take you with me apparently because he knew my parents and didn't want me to die if I should interfere with his plans."

"What?" Damon sat up. "You didn't think that was important enough to call me?"

"First I wanted to find out more about him so after I calmed down… "

Damon laughed a little, although it wasn't a humorous sound. He knew what her temper was like. That temper had landed him in a world of hurt the first night they met.

"… I called my mother to talk to her about him. I don't think he sent the vampires. He would have simply raised the dead under my feet and turned them against me. "

"Okay so that's two things we need to make sure can't happen."

She frowned "What else happened that you aren't telling me about?"

He explained what had happened with his ring that morning. "Somehow Emily Bennett has infested our home."

She smiled at the words 'our home . "When you and Meredith decide I am no longer grounded I will see about getting rid of her. "

"Your mother told me what to do." Damon said. "I've got it covered. "

"You and my mother. I never would have thought it."

Damon shrugged. "She wants to protect you as much as I do. We've called a truce. I expect it to last until … oh… she hears your voice and knows you're safe."

"Sounds about right." She said. "Just be careful. I don't believe that it had to do with Timon. I think the attack was meant to get at you. "

Damon nodded. "I know. I took care of it." He kissed her temple. "you'll be safe. I promise. Go back to sleep. I'm going to stay right here until the dance."


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter ten

Caroline looked around the gym and nodded. "It looks great." She said being civil to Rebecca who had taken up the slack in her absence.

"No thanks to you." She said. "Where have you been?"

"If you must know I was helping take care of a mess your family made last night." Caroline said with a tight smile.

"Whatever it was Stefan and Damon were going on about, my family had nothing to do with it. We have no reason to go after Elena any longer. She's no longer the doppelganger. She means nothing to us." Rebecca could only wish that were so, then her brother would be willing to leave instead of hovering to make sure the girl was alright.

"It wasn't Elena that was attacked. It was Alex. Kol told them that she was going to die just as the attack was beginning. An attack made by vampires infected with necromancer poison. Now you tell me how your family wasn't involved."

Rebecca frowned. "I swear I knew nothing of that. I have nothing against Alex. Don't really care one way or the other. Well, except to pity her for being the latest Elena replacement. I don't know what Kol may or may not have known. But I knew nothing of it."

Caroline looked her over a moment. "I believe you." She said. "So where do you need me?" She looked around the gym, waiting to be directed.

Rebecca smiled. She knew better than to trust her, she had made that mistake with Elena and wound up with a stake in the back for her trouble. But that didn't mean that she didn't appreciate the moment.

The last of the decorations went up quickly, Caroline might let Rebecca take the lead, but she was still very much a perfectionist. She micromanaged the details until they met with her satisfaction. She hurried home to change clothes. She wore black. Not because it would make her stand out in a sea of traditional valentine colors but because of Tyler. It was valentine's day and all she could think about was Tyler and how much she missed him.

* * *

Alexandra woke to the heady scent of night blooming Jasmine. She smiled and sat up, bracing herself against the headboard. The room was filled with Jasmine, magnolia and Gardenia bouquets. "Thank you. They're beautiful."

He stopped fiddling with his tie and came to sit on the edge of the bed. "Happy valentines day." He told her.

"I love you." She told him.

He kissed her gently. "I have something for you." He said instead of answering her in kind. He produced an old fashioned wooden jewelry box, rosewood with ivory inlay.

"It's beautiful." Even without knowing the inlay for what it was she could tell that it was an antique. The level of craftsmanship was amazing, the well worn smooth surface that only came from years of being used and loved. She opened the box and within was a locket. It was made of marcasite , on the surface was a fleur de lis, thin slivers of bone forming the petals. "oh Damon."

He smiled. They had met in Baton Rouge. It seemed the right choice. He opened it for her. Within was a photograph that had been taken not long after they had come together. They weren't lovers yet but they had been posing and at the insistence of their 'friends' had taken the picture.

"You still have it?"

He grinned. "No, now you do. At least this copy." He then showed her a well hidden button, and pressed it. A panel on the inside of the lid of the locket opened. A rust colored substance was contained behind a film of glass. It had obviously been made to house a secret picture. Now it housed a sample of his blood.

"You're sure?" She asked, knowing all too well what he was giving her.

"I'm sure. " He said and caressed her cheek.

"Help me put it on?" She leaned forward and he moved behind her, fastening the necklace for her. "It's perfect. "

* * *

Stefan opened the safe in what had once been Zack's study. He reached past the papers to retrieve the ring box sitting at the back of the safe. He opened it and looked at the wedding rings inside, then drew a deep almost shuddering breath. He removed the men's ring and put it back in the safe. He didn't think he could make himself wear his father's wedding ring. Maybe Damon would want to one day but he doubted that his brother would want to anymore than he did, even if the reasons were different.

Elena had gone home to change for the dance. He went upstairs to check on his brother and Alex before leaving to pick her up. He stopped outside the door and smiled. He smelled the room long before he had gotten there. Gardenia and Jasmine. Their mother's favorite flowers, and the scent she used to wear. He had never given those flowers to Katherine, or any to Elena.

He remembered that their father said that their mother spoiled Damon too much. It had been a point of contention between their parents. One that Stefan had to admit he had resented. Damon had been their mothers favorite and he supposed , looking back on it, their father had given more affection to Stefan because of that. If you could honestly call it affection.

He watched the couple. She reached up to fix Damon's tie, wiped at a bit of shaving cream hidden just under his jaw. He didn't stay to watch any longer. Alex was fine and Damon was dressing for the dance. That was all he needed to know.

He had begun to doubt Bonnie, but no more. This wasn't the Damon he knew. Damon was an emotional thunderstorm. White hot bursts of lightning, dark swirling thunderheads, updrafts, downdrafts sometimes leading to a whirlwind of destruction. Even with Katherine it had been one intense reaction after another. Becoming a vampire had not lessened his intensity, it had increased it. So his love for Elena was much the same.

The romance with Alexandra was different. He appeared content; he lacked the same intensity he threw at the other women and at him. He lacked his usual insecurity or paranoia, until she was threatened in anyway and then the old Damon resurfaced and burned bodies on their rival's door.

He knew what it was like to have his will taken from him. The idea of it having happened to Damon of all people horrified him. His brother had always been larger than life, whether he was his protector as he had been when Stefan had been a child, as a soldier with a brilliant mind for tactics and battle, or as his tormentor after he had become a vampire. Part of that was having a will of iron that even their father couldn't break. His brother must be going mad inside, having that taken from him so completely.

Stefan needed to talk to Bonnie. He had no doubt now that she was correct, but he couldn't have her putting Damon at risk to get rid of Alexandra. Using Emily had put Damon at risk. If they pushed too hard the couple would simply leave town and he would be lost to them forever. His brother had been lost to him for far too long already. They had to be careful and they had to act soon.

He pushed those thoughts aside as he drove to Elena's . He didn't want this night clouded by his concern and fear for his brother. He wanted this night to be perfect for her. Should he ask before the dance? After the dance? As he said goodnight and kissed her? He didn't know. In his short life and comparatively long afterlife he had never asked anyone to marry him before. Stefan was nervous as he knocked on her door.

It was Jeremy that opened the door. "Hey man, come on in, she's almost ready… I think. Anyway I'm off to work. See ya later."

Stefan laughed. "Yeah, take it easy." He said entering the house and closing the door behind him.

"Jeremy? Are you still here?" Elena called from upstairs. "I need your help."

Stefan hurried up the stairs.

"Jer?" She called out again.

"He just left. Can I help?" Stefan asked leaning against her door frame.

She looked over her shoulder, smiling. "Sure, I can't get the zipper"

He stepped closer, and undid the zipper a little to get it uncaught before zipping it the rest of the way. "you look beautiful" he told her. Truth was she took his breath away. But then so had Katherine. How much of their love for this woman was based on the memories of Katherine? He shook the mood. He had spent too much time in introspection and analysis of Damon's motives. That was all. He loved Elena for Elena. Not because she looked like Katherine. If he had really wanted Katherine he would be with her.

"Thank you." She said smiling warmly and turned to slide her arms around his waist. "So do you think our Dance Karma will hold up? Should we find someplace to hide the vervain grenades?" she teased.

He laughed softly "I think we'll be fine." He told her, although the mention of their ill fated dance history he made the decision to ask now rather than later. Something would come up later and plans would be derailed. He took her by the hand and led her down the stairs and outside. They could be a little late to the dance.

"Where are we going?" She asked as he drove.

"I have a surprise." He told her smiling. "And no I'm not going to tell you what it is."

"Really." She said smiling, although her smiles turned to a look of confusion as he parked near the Wickery Bridge. "Why are we here?"

"I think it's time to break the curse of this place." He said as he got out and took a cue from his older brother, going to open her door for her and help her out of the car. " I know this place has unpleasant memories for you. But this is the place I first saw you." He said as he walked her to the middle of the bridge. "It was here that you came back to me forever." Stefan caressed her face gently and kissed her before dropping down to one knee.

Elena's eyes opened wide and she felt her heart leap into her throat. Her hand went to her face as he brought out the ring box from his pocket. She was nodding yes before he could even get the words out.

"Elena… I love you. I have from the moment I first laid eyes on you, and it's only grown since then. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, whether that's one year or a thousand, I want you at my side. Will you be my wife?"

"Yes." She told him, "Stefan yes." Elena held out her left hand for him to put the antique ring on her finger. "I love you, so much."

He rose from the ground and her arms went instantly around his neck. He closed his around her waist and lifted her off the ground. "I love you." He told her as he spun with her. "I've never loved anyone as much as you."

* * *

Meredith entered the bedroom carrying a tray. "I know that I'm not who you really want to be spending this evening with but I figured we may as well enjoy it anyway. I don't know about you but I am a huge fan of cheese cake ."

"ooh I love cheese cake." She said sitting up and putting a pillow behind her back. "I understand you helped take care of me last night. Thank you."

Meredith smiled. "You're welcome." She said, setting the bed tray between them and poured cups of tea to go with the cheese cake. "I have to ask. How long have you known Damon?"

"Since shortly after he was turned." She said. "He and Stefan had just parted ways rather violently. He never gave me the details of that and I never asked. He was posing as a man named Charles Dunham. I had been hired to summon one of the Dunham's relatives from the grave. He'd neglected to tell them where the family fortune was hidden away. "

_(1864_

Damon was escorted into the formal dining room at the exactly seven o'clock. He was a punctual man. Fashionably late only counted when it would irritate his father. His father was not a concern any longer.

"Welcome Cousin." He was greeted by Elizabeth Dunham. "I can see your mother in you. I was sorry to hear of her passing."

"Thank you." Damon said, clasping the older woman's hands in his in a display of warm and appreciation. "It is good to finally meet you." He said, silently implying that he had heard much.

"You will have to forgive Edward. He is always late. Personally I think it's because he would rather live in his study with his research unhindered by the lives of us mere mortals." She said laughing. "We have just learned to start without him. She led Damon to a chair between her seat at one end of the table and a lovely woman that Damon thought might make a nice after dinner snack if the chance arose.

"Charles Dunham, may I present Miss Alexandra Sauveterre." She said as she took her seat "she comes from one of New Orleans finest Acadian families. She is visiting with us for a time."

"It's my pleasure Miss Sauveterre." He said with the expected formality. She was beautiful, even though nothing like his beloved Katherine. Where Katherine was dark she was all aflame, with russet colored hair piled decorously on her head. Each curl courted the candle light from the table, and the flickering of light and shadow there drew his eyes.

"Mr. Dunham" She said and nodded her head to him, and smiled. There was none of Katherine's quick and impudent flirtation, but he could see that she was not displeased by the way his eyes lingered for just a little too long to be entirely polite, before allowing the hostess to continue the introductions around the room. )

"Could you tell that he was a vampire? Is that something necromancers do? I'm sorry if I'm too nosy. Just tell me to shut up. It's the scientist in me. Always questioning." Meredith said.

"I don't mind. I've been feeling out of place midst all the teen-aged girls. I'm grateful for another woman to talk to." Alexandra admitted "And no I can't recognize a vampire at first glance. Especially not when they are doing their best to pose as human. I didn't realize he was a vampire until he bit me." She said with a faint laugh.

"He bit you?" Meredith asked, nearly choking on her tea. "I know that shouldn't surprise me. It's Damon, but still, that wouldn't make me want to be someone's best friend much less his lover."

"Oh we didn't start out as friends at all."

_( 1864_

_Damon loved dancing. He hadn't always. Initially he had learned it merely because his mother had insisted and it annoyed his father for so much attention to be paid to such an unmanly act. Then he had awakened one day and found that he rather enjoyed the thought of holding a woman in his arms and had begun to learn as much as he could about the waltz as well as the elegant line dances that were the staple of formal balls in Mystic Falls._

_It had served him well in his military career. His father had bought his commission for him. Damon however had made the right connections to further that career by wooing young women on the dance floor, whose father would then want to talk to him privately. He had gotten more than one elevation in rank because of fathers angling for a son in law with a successful military career and a healthy inheritance waiting at home._

_Now he was dancing with Miss Alexandra Sauveterre and he was certain he had met his match. "You dance beautifully." He told her. It felt good to mix with the humans. He had listened to the vampires Stefan had taken up with talk about how it was a bad idea to mix and mingle. He didn't care. They were idiots. Older, more experienced perhaps but they were idiots. Stefan especially was an idiot. He was determined to continue mingling. As long as he could pretend to be Charles Dunham he had a place to stay and people to pretend to be human with._

_"Thank you." She told him, smiling up at him. She'd been smiling most of the evening and knew that she had to stop letting herself be distracted by this excessively handsome man. She liked him. This was all the more reason not to become involved with him or to even entertain the notion of becoming involved with him. It was dangerous and not just for herself._

_That's what she told herself as he whirled her around the dance floor in a Viennese Waltz. That's what she told herself when he brought her a glass of punch and sat beside her while she caught her breath after several such dances. It was what she told herself when he asked if she would do him the honor of a walk about the gardens._

_What she told him was yes._

_She let him help her on with her wrap, and took his offered arm to lead her outside. The Dunham's property was expansive and offered walking trails through the gardens with many secluded nooks._

_They talked as they walked, surprisingly about things that mattered including the war. He even mentioned that he had served for a time but relinquished his commission on moral grounds. He was surprised that she didn't think him a coward._

_"Death is never something to take lightly." She told him, "Whether it be an elderly spinster alone in her parlor or an enemy on the battlefield screaming in pain and terror. It cant be avoided or evaded or defeated. Such a foe should never be disrespected."_

_The sound of her heart beat was driving him mad. He could hear it coursing through her veins in a slow and steady almost hypnotic rhythm. He wanted to kiss her but not as much as he wanted to drown in her blood. "Oh I don't know. I didn't find it so difficult to defeat." He said pulling her to him and lowering his fangs into her soft cream color flesh._

_It was sweet, like ripe berries and honeysuckle much as he had expected… and then the aftertaste flooded his mouth. "Vervain?!" he exclaimed, stumbling backwards as the world started to spin._

_"You bit me!" she said, plunging the bone blade into his stomach. " I was going to let you kiss me. And you bit me!"_

_Those were the last words he heard as he lost consciousness. )_

"Do you still take vervain?" She asked.

"Oh yes, among other things. " Alexandra told her.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

They had arrived at the dance a little late, but that didn't seem to matter to Elena who was enjoying showing off her new engagement ring. Stefan had thought of calling Bonnie to have her help him with cornering Damon, but he spotted someone else who might be a better partner in crime when all was done. Damon had enough animosity toward the witch and suspected she was responsible for the poison used in the attack on Alexandra. He would over react to anything from her at the moment.

He excused himself from Elena and Caroline , and made a bee line for Rebecca. "Hey, I need your help."

Rebecca raised an eyebrow. "Why on earth should I help you. The two of you tried to kill Elijah last night."

"If we had wanted him dead, he'd be dead. You should know me better than that."

"I don't know you at all anymore. You've changed. I don't trust you." Rebecca told him. The truth was she wanted to trust him, wanted to have him back in her life as he had been before. But that was never going to happen.

"I need help wrangling Damon." He told her bluntly, watching as his brother made his entrance and walked straight to Elena as expected.

Rebecca laughed. "So I'm a wrangler now."

"No, you are an old friend who has the ability to compel a vampire. " He pointed out. Damon hadn't taken his dose of anything since the day before because he wanted to be able to be leeched from by his supposed girlfriend.

"I'm listening." She said.

"I need you to make him tell me the truth. I think someone is controlling him. Please Rebecca. "

She sighed. "Fine. I'll meet you in the history room." Rebecca turned to go.

Stefan joined the others. "I need to borrow my brother for a few minutes." He said and leaned in to kiss Elena again. "We shouldn't be long."

Elena nodded, knowing what Stefan was up to, but she knew better than to say so in front of Caroline. Her best friends were at completely opposite sides of the spectrum when it came to their French teacher.

Damon was a little stiff as he walked away with Stefan.

"You alright?" Stefan asked.

"You gave her mother's ring." Damon said.

"Is that a problem?"

"Don't you think you should have at least talked to me about it, I am the eldest." Damon said, managing to contain how much that actually upset him.

"I didn't think you would be using it. Is it a problem? Do I need to find another ring?"

Damon gave him a long suffering glare. "Sure, make me the villain." He said. "I don't want you to take it from her. She loves it. I just wish you'd had the respect to ask me if I minded. "

"I apologize. " Stefan said. "Honestly I wasn't thinking about anything but her when I retrieved it from the safe. "

"Well… I guess it doesn't matter now. " Damon said, although it still rankled a little. He'd have probably told him to go ahead and give it to her, but the thought that he didn't think to ask really bugged him. One of many things that bugged him about his brother recently. Something was off between them and he didn't know what."So what is it you wanted to talk to me about?" He asked as Stefan opened the door to the classroom and they went inside.

Stefan closed and leaned against the door, waiting.

"Rebecca, what are you doing in here?" He asked looking between the girl and his brother. "Are you off the vervain?" Damon asked Stefan worriedly.

"No, but you are." Stefan answered. "And I need to know the truth."

"Maybe you should try asking. What's going on here? You know what, I don't want to know. I'm going home." Where he should have stayed in the first place instead of falling into the same old must protect Elena lock step with his brother. He started toward the door, having every intention of tossing his brother out of the way.

Rebecca instead grabbed him from behind and pinned him to the wall. "While normally I wouldn't mind if you played a little rough, I happen to be very fond of this dress. So *don't struggle*. She compelled.

"When this is done I am going to kill you." He told her but he did as he was told.

"Unlikely." She said and looked over to Stefan. "What is it you want me to do now?"

"Stefan." Damon growled. Why had he let himself trust his brother again? Why had he let his guard down?

"It's alright Damon. It's for your own good." He said. "I need you to tell him to answer me truthfully."

"I've heard that line before. It never ends well for us."

Rebecca shrugged and looked once more in Damon's eyes. "You heard the man *answer him truthfully,*" she again compelled.

"You asked an original to get into my head. You want to know the truth? When she lets me go I'm going to hand you your ass and if you're lucky I'll stop there." The girl had just tortured him not that long ago and his brother in his infinite wisdom saw fit to tell her that he was off the vervain. After what they had attempted to do to Alexandra how could he do that? Didn't he see that had been an attack on him through her? Where was his brother's head?

"Damon. Relax. I just need you to tell me about Alex." Stefan told him.

Fortunately that wasn't phrased as a question and Damon didn't have to answer. "Make her leave first." His brother was going to make him betray Alex? To an Original? To say Damon was horrified was an understatement.

"I'm not going anywhere. The dance is lame and I need the entertainment. So if I leave you get to answer everything he asks truthfully for the rest of my life." Rebecca said and went to sit on the teacher's desk.

"Stefan, don't do this. They've tried to kill her once already. " Damon insisted.

"I want you to tell me why you never mentioned her before." He said. Damon had never answered that one when he'd asked casually.

"Because it was never about you and I wanted one thing in my life that you couldn't steal. But that's what you're trying now isn't it."

"I'm not taking anything away from you. I'm trying to give it back." Stefan insisted. "When did you meet her?"

"Right after New Orleans. You remember New Orleans, don't you brother?" Damon hissed. "All the fun we had. You and Lexi, me in a cage tied up with all that vervain soaked rope. But hey you got what you wanted then too didn't you? Good times."

"I was trying to save you." Stefan insisted.

Damon rolled his eyes. " Is that why you rammed a stake into my gut instead of tearing them apart with me to get away. It looked to me like you were trying to save the girl. Was I ever wrong." Bitter sarcasm dripped from his words. " I have to admit, that even after all these years, I can still remember the girl clearly. Her blood was amazing. She tasted like strawberries. I don't think you had the hang of this saving people thing yet. " Damon laughed when Stefan struck him. "you're the one that wanted truth. YOU crossed the line this time. Again. Remember that."

Stefan swallowed hard. "Go on… with what happened after."

(1864,

Damon hadn't gone far from New Orleans after he'd killed Callie Gallagher and made his brother watch. The girl Stefan had plunged a stake into his gut for, the daughter of the man who had ordered his torture for weeks. That actually hurt more than Stefan forcing him to drink and become a vampire.

He had gotten as far as Baton Rouge before deciding to settle in for a time. He was tired, filthy and in desperate need of something to alleviate the endless thoughts of Stefan and Katherine. He haunted the train stations, people traveling were the easiest prey and unlikely to be reported missing for quite some time if at all.

His chosen prey was usually women, but today he was going to make an exception. He needed clothing and money. It wasn't as if he could go home and collect his inheritance after all. Tonight the dinner special was a gentleman who stood imperiously by watching as the porters hauled his luggage (three steamer trunks and several boxes) onto a cart.

"Take it to the Atherton hotel. I will be there shortly to claim it and my room, "He said. "I have business to attend to first."

Damon looked him over, estimating the man looked to be of a height with him, broad shouldered, leanly built. He would do. He smiled as the man walked toward the darkened side streets. Now what business did a well appointed man have in the back streets of Baton Rouge.

He followed far enough that he wouldn't be seen and moved in for the kill, much as he had since his escape from Gallagher, swift and deadly. He switched out clothing with his meal, looked over his identification and smiled at the money in the man's billfold.

"Well… I think a bath is in order." He said dragging the body to the side and dumping him into the ditch. A bath and two hours later he checked into the Atherton hotel under the name of Charles Dunham. They showed him to a suite of rooms and his new belongings.

"Shall I have dinner sent up ?" The innkeeper asked as he handed Damon the key.

"No, thank you. I've already eaten." Damon said and closed the door, locking it. He went to the bedroom and lay down. It was the first comfortable bed he had been in since the night before he had died. Sleep came no easier there than it had in the Quarry and only marginally better than the nights he had spent bound in vervain soaked ropes.

He awoke to the sound of pounding on the outer door and he rolled out of bed, running his hands through his hair. "I'm coming, hang on." He said. He had the fleeting thought that he had been found out. That someone had found the body and recognized him and now the police were here to arrest him. Another cage… But he beat those thoughts back and opened the door. "Yes? 

"Good." Damon said aloud. "now be still don't be afraid ." he uttered that one aloud before sinking his fangs into the man's neck. He took his fill, leaving only the faintest of wounds. He erased his mind of the conversation and the feeding. "Here, you wished to see my identification."

"Sorry, sir. I didn't mean to go vacant on you." He said as he looked over the official document and smiled. "This is yours, then. " He handed over the envelope.

Damon opened it and found within an invitation to join them for dinner and a ball that night. He came from an old aristocratic family of his own. He knew how to respond appropriately and found Dunham's stationary. He scrawled out an RSVP and a thank you, and gave it to the messenger.

Once the man had left he set about opening the trunks and looking through Charles Dunham's belongings. He hung up the suits and shirts, and was relieved to find something fit to wear to a ball. The fit was less than perfect so he draped it across the bed and went down to the front desk and asked that a tailor be sent for. )

"She was at the dinner and ball I had been invited to. " He told his brother, his anger growing with every second.

"How is she that old?" Stefan asked and winced as his brother growled with the effort he put into fighting the compulsion. He hated doing this to him. "Rebecca…" He said looking at her.

She sighed. "Damon… stop fighting it. " She commanded. "ooh that might have been a mistake." Rebecca said, watching as the look in Damon's eyes shifted from anger to absolute hatred. "And here I thought Elena would be the end of you two. My evening is looking up already."

Stefan glared at her then turned his attention back to his brother. "How is she human and that old."

Damon rested his head against the wall. If they hurt her because of this he would kill his brother. There would be no summer wedding to Elena there would just be death. Maybe he'd kill Elena first. Maybe he'd just kill everyone. "Necromancers can halt their aging by drawing energy from the dead. "

"Like with her healing?"

Damon nodded. "Yes. " he couldn't fight it anylonger. "And it feels good. No pain, no mess, no body to put back together like an over sized jigsaw puzzle. You know you should sell one of those diaries of yours to Hollywood. Oh the slasher flick they could make off of your life story. It would make a fortune. Vampires are in I hear."

"Damon that's enough." Stefan said.

"She said I had to be truthful. She didn't say to be nice ." Damon answered.

"Don't look at me." Rebecca said. "you're on your own where that's concerned. "

"Did she bond you to her… enthrall or whatever it's called?" Stefan asked.

"Yes. Of course to be fair I had just tried to have her for dinner. All that dancing had gone to my head until I couldn't hear anything but her heart beat and I went for the kill. She was on vervain and I was out like a light. "

(1864

Damon came around and groaned. He was still weakened from the vervain and could barely lift his head but he did it anyway. At least this time the ropes weren't soaked in it. She wasn't torturing him… yet. "you can't keep me drugged forever. " He said quietly, as he watched what she was doing.

He assumed he was in the guest house. They had said she was staying with them. He could still hear the party going on.

"I don't plan to. I really wish you hadn't done that though. I'm not here for vampires. I don't care about vampires." She said mixing the herbs.

"Then let me go. I wasn't going to kill you. Just… make your blood stop rushing in my ears." He said glaring at her.

"Hmmm, because that doesn't sound like killing me at all." She rolled her eyes, before turning to look at him. "Was anything you told me about yourself true at all?"

"What does it matter?" He said looking away from her. He had just escaped one hell, now he was plunged back into another one. Why couldn't all this be happening to Stefan?

"It matters a great deal." She told him, reaching out to make him look at her. "Was anything true?" She asked.

"Not Charles Dunham, retired Captain Damon Salvatore, apparently at your service." He said with as much sarcasm as he could manage with that much vervain in his system. Strangely he preferred it inside than outside. It hurt less. He still had nightmares about the ropes… the stakes…

"Well, Captain, your life is about to change. Again." Alexandra told him.

She took the blade she had stabbed him with out of its pocket, and removed the end, a small glass vial dropped into her hand she poured the contents into the bowl of herbs and powders she had been mixing.

He recognized the scent as blood. Given where it came from it had to be his own. "Great another witch." He said.

"I'm no witch." She said lighting the contents on fire and chanting as the flames grew higher then dampened just as quickly.

"hmmm, because that doesn't look like magic at all." He said mocking her words from earlier.

She stirred the ashes and placed her finger in the bowl gathering some on the tip. "I am no witch. " Alexandra said. "I'm a necromancer." She said as she touched the ashen finger to his brow.

Damon's world exploded in bright white light and his head lolled back hard enough that he nearly toppled the chair he was in. He opened his eyes and tried to focus. There were images moving around them both, specters of people he didn't recognize from times he couldn't place. When the world righted itself his head throbbed and he looked up at her. "What did you do to me?" he asked.

"Remember when you said you were at my service? Now you truly are."

"Go to hell" He told her.

Alexandra laughed softly. "I have yet to decide if I believe in such things." She said as she fitted him with a make shift gag then drug his chair over into a corner where it wouldn't be seen by any passersby or be touched by the morning sun. "I will make your excuses to … your… family" She told him. "And when I return I will explain things more clearly. I have a reputation to uphold and disappearing with a strange man into the garden and not coming back is a bad way to go about it. Don't worry. I won't be long.")

He laughed then. "But hey, the sex was incredible. You have no idea what its like with a necromancer. All that skin on skin contact, energy going back and forth. I hear there's another one in town. You should look him up, " He said looking to Rebecca. "His name's Timon. Sacha says he's Greek and good looking enough. " he watched her reaction. "Ah but you already know that don't you. Have fun. I highly recommend it."

"Damon, leave her alone." Stefan said.

"Did you already know she was tied in with the other necromancer?" Damon asked. "Is that what this is all about. Please tell me this is another save Elena move. I'll still kick your ass but I might get over it if that's what this is."

"I'm doing this to save you, Damon. No one but you."

Stefan hadn't answered his question.

"I don't need saving!" He yelled "Except maybe from you, God, always from you." Damon accused. "Did you resent me that much when we were alive? I thought maybe, just maybe you'd grown up. I thought we could be brothers again."

"We are brothers again." Stefan insisted.

"Well, I guess Cain and Able are going to have to step aside. Here come the Salvatores. "

"How long were you bound to her?" Stefan asked.

"Which time?" Damon countered. "The first time a few years. But to be completely honest I didn't mind after the first couple . I didn't have to think about you or Katherine when I was with her. It was worth it to be free of the two of you." He told his brother.

Stefan was horrified, and hurt. He should have gone looking for Damon after New Orleans but he had been so devastated by it all that he'd given up on his brother. He'd thought he was free, but he'd just gone from one cage to another. "How often?" he asked quietly.

"Three total. The last two I asked her to do it." Damon said honestly.

Stefan opened his mouth to speak but Damon spoke first. "Do not ask me why. Not in front of her."

Stefan sighed. "Was it because of something Alexandra did to you? Are you addicted to her feeding? Why would you give up your own will?"

"No. No. And I didn't. It's not the mind rape that being compelled is, Stefan. " Damon told him pointedly, although, the fact that his brother couldn't look him in the eye wasn't as satisfying as he had hoped. "I was never a mindless drone."

"Did she bind you when she got here?" Stefan asked.

"Yes." He said carefully "But after our fight she did the ritual to break it."

"Why?" Stefan asked.

"You would have to ask her, but I wouldn't advise it. You go near her and I will end you." Damon said. "And thanks to Rebecca you know that's not an empty threat. "

"Are you two done now?" Rebecca asked. "It's getting boring and I have a dance to attend."

"Oh we're done." Damon said locking gazes with Stefan.

"Don't, alright. I did this to try and help you."

"Let me go." Damon said, looking to Rebecca.

She shrugged "Fine. You can move and you don't have to answer him truthfully anymore." She told him, breaking the compulsion.

Damon knew that Stefan would want to try and explain, again, so he took the time to take out his cell phone and called Meredith. "I need you to get Alex out of there and take her home. She'll know what to do with the rowan and angelica. I need you to do it now. Trust no one but me." He didn't hang up until he got the affirmative response. He put his phone away.

"I'm not going to hurt her." Stefan said, and found himself sudden flying across the room and hitting the wall on the far side.

"Not good enough." Damon said picking up the teacher's pointer stick as he advanced on Stefan. "What is it about me that you hate so much that you can't stand to see me happy." He said picking his brother up off of the floor with one hand and ramming the stick into his stomach with the other.

Stefan groaned. "I don't hate you." He said breathing around the pain. He cried out again as Damon removed the stick only to plunge it in again, a little higher this time.

"I don't believe you." Damon said. "What do you know about the attack last night."

"Nothing." Stefan said, stunned that his brother could ask that of him.

"See, honesty. There's more than one way to go about things. I asked a question you answered and I figure out if you're telling the truth or not. If you'd done it this way I might have forgiven you. But you let her into my head. You told her I'm vulnerable." He adjusted the stick and Stefan cried out as it neared his heart.

"Damon no!"

"one last question, and if you lie I will know." Damon said, holding Stefan in place by the throat. From the moment he had started drinking blood, Damon had been the stronger of the two. "Did you know about Emily Bennett being on my property?"

Stefan nodded "I knew. I didn't know she would go after you though I swear. Damon, I didn't do any of this to hurt you. I've been trying to help you."

"Help me? Is that like when Klaus fixed you?" He asked removing the stick once more. " go to hell, brother. " He moved to plunge the stake in once more, but suddenly collapsed with a loud snapping sound.

"He was going for the kill shot. " Rebecca said as she stepped back from Damon's limp body on the floor. "You should go change shirts. He'll calm down."

"You don't know my brother." Stefan said staring at Damon, wondering how he had gotten so far off base with this. He had been sure Bonnie was right.

"Apparently neither do you." Rebecca said laughing a little. "Go on before he wakes up and tries to finish the job. You're going to want him to calm down before you see him again. Give him a couple days. Trust me I know a thing or two about hot headed brothers."

Stefan laughed a little, although there was no humor in it."I guess you do." He said, but he let Rebecca push him out into the hallway. "Thanks for your help. Sorry if it puts you on his hit list."

"I can handle Damon. I have before." She said.

Stefan winced. That entire exchange had slipped his mind. It seemed a hundred years ago even though it had only been a few short months. "I- " He started but didn't know what to say.

"He'll get over it but your date wont if you don't go change and go back to dancing with her. It's valentines day for pities sake. Don't go abandoning your precious Elena. "

"You're right… thank you." He said and hurried home to change his blood soaked clothing. He should be back before Damon woke up and could reason with him. He wasn't going to ask Rebecca to erase his memory of the conversation, although it was tempting. He might have just lost his brother forever this time.

Rebecca walked back into the class room. She took out her cell phone and placed a call. "Remember when you said you needed a vampire for your necromancer's ritual? Say thank you. Now come pick him up at the school. I'll have him out back waiting." The best part of it all was that Damon would wake and believe that his brother had given him over.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter twelve

Bonnie frowned "I don't know what more you want. I've made Stefan as paranoid as I possibly can about the woman. I've even used magic to do it. He's driven Damon off. She'll leave soon enough."

"Damon hasn't run off. Damon is currently in my brother's basement awaiting a completely different necromantic ritual." Klaus said "Apparently my family has figured something is wrong as well." His tone was sharp and clipped.

"What do you want me to do?" Bonnie asked.

"Perhaps there is nothing left to do." He said looking at her intently."Perhaps it's too much for you to handle and it's just time to let the cat out of the bag."

"No." She said. "I won't do it. It's not time yet. It's not ever time."

"No, it's merely not convenient for you. If my brother's ritual goes off as planned, they will know I am alive and they won't keep it a secret." Klaus said.

"Then I have to stop that ritual." She said. "What will they use Damon for?" Bonnie asked.

"Its necromancy and they are looking for information. I don't know, they'll attempt to use him as a divination tool. Might be blood, might gut him and read his entrails, they might even cut off his hands and use his digits for reading the bones. I don't know. The imagination boggles." Klaus said. "Why the sudden concern."

"I'm not concerned about Damon. I hope they gut him before we get there. He deserves it and more. But Stefan will want to save his brother and make amends. "

"And thus will want to stop the ritual. Very good." He said, and turned to leave.

Stefan stood at the porch looking in Alexandra's door. "I just need to speak with Damon. I need to make things right." He said.

"I've told you once already." Alexandra said. "He isn't here. I haven't seen him since he went to the dance. What happened last night? Why did he call and have me relocated?"

"We had a fight." Stefan said. "I screwed up and he's furious with me. I just need to talk to him."

"No. I need more details than that. " She said. "He called me here to help him get his emotions under control so that he didn't have to leave and lose you again." She told him. "Is that what caused the problem ? The fact that you don't like what I am?"

"I don't even begin to understand what you are." Stefan said. "I just know that Damon isn't acting like himself, and you can enslave the dead."

"You thought I was enslaving Damon why? Because he was acting happy or not dancing attendance on Elena anymore or what? Maybe finding a life outside of the strange little drama you and your friends have created?" She gave him a look and shook her head. "You grew up in the old south. Tell me, did you ever see a slave that was truly happy? "

"No, but they were bound by chains, not their emotions. They weren't held prisoner by blood magic." Stefan told her.

"He's no longer bound to me. Whatever you may think I love your brother. I will tear this town apart to find him and just because I'm the white sheep of the family doesn't mean I don't know how to bring hell raining down on your head. Now you suck it up and tell me what happened last night. Every ugly detail, do you hear me Stefan Salvatore?"

Stefan looked as if he would rather eat razorblades but he told her in detail.

"You left him there defenseless with a known enemy?" Alex asked and stepped through the door way and out to the porch. "You left him there?"

Stefan nodded. "He was trying to kill me… I thought… I don't know what I thought. I don't know why I was pushing so hard to get information. I need to talk to him. " he said running his hands through his hair.

Alexandra slapped him, surprisingly hard enough to turn his head. "You don't know? " She said. "How often have you been in that witch house?" Alex asked.

"I don't know. A dozen times, maybe more. I was there a lot when we were storing the caskets there." Stefan said.

"And are there any other witches than Bonnie that you have been spending time with?" She asked.

Stefan shook his head. "No Just Bonnie but she's one of us. She's Elena's best friend."

"Damon is right about you." She said turning to go back into her house. "For a man with your past you are far too trusting. Start with your blonde friend. The one you left him defenseless against." She said sharply. "I'll do what I can from here."

"Thank you." He said.

"Don't thank me. If we're too late I'll be coming for you." Alexandra paused before closing the door. "Wear a sprig of Rowan somewhere. See if it clears your head any." She closed the door and went back inside. "Do you have any idea how many undead are in this town?" She asked Meredith and Caroline.

"No." Meredith said.

"There is no telling how many the Michaelsen's have called in." Caroline said. "Or made." She couldn't believe what Stefan had done to Damon. "I know you don't like Bonnie, and I get that it's kind of like Vampires and Werewolves not getting along. But I can't believe she would mess with Stefan's head like that. I know she hates Damon… but she loves Elena."

Alexandra clasped the girls shoulder gently. "You're a good friend." She told her. "I just hope it doesn't bite you in the end." She knew it was Bonnie. Not that she had proof but there was simply no one else that it could be. The girl would have noticed the signs of another witch in town and said something if she were blameless. But she couldn't blame Caroline for standing up for her friend. It was an admirable trait.

* * *

Damon leaned against the stone wall and rested his arms on his knees. "Well at least I'm not dangling by my wrists from bear traps this time. " He muttered, banging his head lightly against the wall before standing up and beginning to pace. Why had Stefan turned on him like this? He should have expected it. He'd just thought that was behind them.

The door opened and Damon stepped back. "You're Timon." He said, looking the man over.

"And you are Damon. It seems we have something in common." The man said as he stepped closer.

Damon moved away. "Yeah what's that?"

"Alexandra." He said amused by Damon's actions. "I'm not interested in a new pet. Be still. "

"Yeah well, she's not interested in you. You shouldn't go around scaring women if you want to steal their hearts." Damon said. "So what is it you want anyway?"

"I want you and me to come to an understanding." He said stepping closer. This time Damon didn't back away. "It is possible that you will survive tonight."

"Survive what?" He asked.

"That's not important." Timon said. " The point is that if you survive, it's in your best interest to walk away. To simply leave town, leave Alexandra. I have an understanding with her mother. "

"She's arranged for you and Alex?" Damon laughed "You obviously don't know the woman. It won't matter if I leave town, die, suddenly turn into a three legged carnival freak. She wouldn't hook up just to please her mother."

Timon grasped Damon by the throat and pushed him against the wall. Damon could feel his energy leaving his body. It was completely different than when Alexandra fed from him. "Do not mock me, " Timon said, and the words reverberated through him. "Ahh she has been gentle with you. You don't understand what we are." He laughed a little. "Perhaps I will see to your education, vampire."

"I understand enough." Damon said. "Killing me won't make her want you. " His limbs were growing heavy, and he could barely keep his eyes open. He could feel Timon's presence in his head, pressing against his consciousness tightly. He growled lowly fighting to keep his mind his own.

"Want has very little to do with such matters. I suspect that there are things that she will want more than she doesn't want me" He said letting Damon fall to the floor.

"Don't confuse how I feel about her, with how she feels about me." Damon said weakly, as he pushed himself upright and leaned against the wall. "Then again, no one likes their toys stolen. She might just kick your ass."

"The women of our species are weak. " Timon said kneeling down beside him. "I wouldn't get my hopes up if I were you."

Damon laughed. "Yeah, okay, you keep believing that. So what are you going to do with me?" he asked. He knew there would be no eleventh hour rescue from his brother. Stefan had left him to Rebecca. With any luck, not that he had much, Meredith would take Alexandra somewhere safe. Somewhere far away. His only hope for coming through this was himself.

Timon smiled slowly. "I'm going to rip you open and read your entrails. But first I'll see to that education as promised."

* * *

Jeremy hammered the horse shoe into the fence post. "What do you think is going on?" He asked Matt who was doing the same on the next post. Damon had gone

overboard with his need to protect Alex. He'd ordered enough to cover the entire property.

"I don't know man. I never figured Stefan would abandon his brother like that. Not after what he did to save him from that wolf bite." Matt answered.

"Yeah I know. It doesn't sound like him at all. He drinks vervain every morning, so I know it's not that one of the other vamps compelled him. That doesn't leave a lot of options." Jeremy hammered the last nail in then picked up the bag of horseshoes and moved on to the next fence post.

"Damon was worried about witches obviously." Matt said.

"That's because Emily Bennett was on the property and nearly fried him." Jeremy said. Then he frowned. "But how did she get here? I mean I know she's a ghost and sometimes they can go wherever. But she usually needs something to carry her around. The first time it was the pendant that was supposed to let Katherine out of the tomb." Jeremy said.

"Right… then she possessed Bonnie. But that could be because they are related. A natural connection." Matt said continuing on with the work at hand. "I feel like we ought to be out looking for him."

"Yeah I know but I have no idea where to start. " Jeremy said. "My question is, how did she get into Alex's house?"

"You don't think Bonnie…" Matt said.

"Not intentionally no. " He said "But she didn't give Alaric the blood to finish transition willingly either. " He would never believe she could do that to him willingly. Jeremy just could not accept that.

"okay… so if she possessed Bonnie to come out here while Damon and Alex were out, she could have brought something with her to anchor her to the place. So she could come here whenever she wanted to."

"Which means the only person this will keep out is Bonnie." Jeremy said.

"Well the way she feels about Alex on top of the fact that Emily possesses her that's probably not a bad idea. I like Bonnie an all but we have to be realistic about this."

Jeremy sighed. "You keep hammering. I'm gonna go back to the house and see if I can find the… the… fetter I guess is the word." He was learning. But between school and work time with Alex had been shorter than he would have liked.

"Yeah alright." Matt said nodding.

Jeremy jogged back to the house. "I ahm… think we need to search the house. Look for anything that doesn't belong. I think that's how Emily Bennett was able to get in here. I think she possessed Bonnie to bring her here."

Alex raised an eye brow, "Good thinking." She said. She had been pouring over several maps, modern and old of Mystic Falls. Caroline was tracing the locations of old cemeteries and places of death for her to superimpose over the new map.

"You two keep working on the maps and rowan, Jeremy and I will search for Emily's fetter. Jeremy look for anything you recognize as Bonnie's, I will look for anything I don't recognize. With Emily being a witch it wouldn't have to be anything particular to her. She could have created the bond herself to something new, but she would likely have used something of Bonnie's for convenience." She said quickly as she started searching through the living room.

"I knew Bonnie wouldn't do anything like that on purpose." Caroline said, as she continued working.

Alexandra didn't share her conviction. But then again she didn't even completely trust her mother. It was hard to say if that was because her mother was a manipulative bitch, or if it was because she was a witch. She loved her, but she didn't trust her. Witches believed that they knew what was and was not natural but they could be as blinded by prejudice and rhetoric as any other human being on the planet.

They would find that the personal tragedies that everyone else had to bear were too much, and it was too easy to make things 'right'. She didn't blame them for that. What she blamed them for was the fact that as they grew more powerful they became more arrogant, more judgmental and controlling. She often thought that witches found themselves embroiled in vampire problems because it was nature's way of keeping them from becoming an uncontrollable evil.

It was also why she rarely used the full extent of her own abilities. Some, including her sister thought that it made her weak. Perhaps it did to some degree. She preferred to think that it kept her from becoming like the witches she despised.

Jeremy frowned and entered the bedroom. He felt like a snoop but under the circumstances that was how it was going to have to be. He looked under the bed and dresser. He blushed as he rifled through the drawers, still finding nothing.

He lifted the lid of a jewelry box and sifted through the necklaces inside. These he figured were keepsakes as he had never seen Alex wear any of them and they all looked like antiques or something from a movie set during the civil or revolutionary war. All except for one. It was a simple chain with a simple heart shaped pendant that had been buried beneath all the rest. He could see on the back where some of the electroplate had begun to wear away from resting next to the skin.

"Alex?" he called out taking it with him to the main room where she was sifting through decorative boxes with apparently much the same idea he had. "Is this yours?"

"no." She said coming closer to look at the necklace. "Definitely not." She took it from Jeremy and walked into the kitchen.

Alex took a jar from the cupboard and filled it with water. She poured in a measure of ink, added several drops of her blood , a sprig of rowan and then the necklace.

"I think this is probably the fetter. Unfortunately Damon isn't here to test the theory." She told them. "Take this out to my work shop please. " She had no illusions that she had contained the ghost herself. She had just rendered the fetter unpleasant for her. She would have to take more permanent actions later.

"On it." Jeremy said and hurried out the door.

* * *

Stefan looked over at Bonnie, who had just stumbled forward as if she were about to swoon. "Are you alright?" He asked reaching out to steady her.

"Here, come sit down." Elena said as she helped her friend toward a kitchen chair. She then went to get her a glass of water. She said. "Drink this."

"I'm alright. I was just… "She laughed a little "Felt like someone walked over my grave I guess. Never used to understand when Grams would say that. Now I do."

"The Originals are tied in with the second necromancer. "Stefan told them as he continued to pace. What had he gotten Damon into? Why had he trusted Rebecca and left his brother there defenseless? He should have taken him with him when he left. Normally he would have. He couldn't help but look at Bonnie with a little suspicion now. Were they caught in the middle of some Witch- Necromancer war?

"I don't know as much about them as my grandmother did. Abby knows even less than I do. She just remembers being taught that they were bad news and to be avoided. But I do know that they use the dead in powerful rituals. Vampires rate high on the list of spell components. It all depends on what they are after."

"The spirits that were hounding Jeremy were looking for Tyler ." Elena said. "The only thing that could stir them up like that would be a necromancer, right? Maybe they are looking for Tyler for some reason."

"But why? Tyler is dead. All of the hybrids are they have to be. Damon and Rebecca both saw Klaus destroyed. " Bonnie said.

"It doesn't matter why." Stefan said. "They have my brother and I'm getting him back. Their reasons can be damned."

"Unfortunately you're going to need to get more information from Alexandra." Bonnie said. "I've been told the property out there is being made witch proof so you'll have to ask the questions."

"Maybe I should go." Elena said looking at Stefan.

"We'll both go. But whatever she says or does you stay out of it." Stefan told her.

"What do you think she'll do?" Elena asked.

"I don't know but whatever it is I deserve it." He turned to walk out of the house.

Elena exchanged a look with Bonnie.

"He's feeling guilty right now. That's all. Just keep an eye on him and don't let him do anything stupid that I have to save him from later. "Bonnie said. "I'm not up to fighting a necromancer."

Elena hugged her friend briefly and hurried out to join Stefan in the car. "It's not your fault." She told him. "You were just trying to help."

"That doesn't make it not my fault, Elena, just means I didn't intend it to turn out like this. It's still my fault he's in trouble. I don't even know if he's still alive, still in town, did they give him to the necromancer, is Rebecca torturing him… " the list of possibilities were endless and they kept playing over in his head so much that he couldn't think straight. "No wonder he hates me again."

"Damon doesn't hate you. He never has. The one thing I have been sure of is that you two love each other more than anything."

Stefan shook his head as he started the car. "Not anymore. I betrayed him. I let an enemy know that he was vulnerable, asked her to exploit that weakness, and forced him to give information about the woman he loves in front of Rebecca. How does anyone forgive that? "

Elena reached over and put her hand on his. "He'll forgive you. You went to a former lover for help to find out if he was being controlled. That's all you did. "

"And then I left him there, unconscious, with someone who hates him and has the power to break his will. " He shook his head. "I just left him there."

Elena's brow furrowed. This was almost as out of character as the fact that he had left his brother behind at all had been. Stefan worried, he brooded, but he didn't fret. What was going on? "We'll find him." She was worried about Damon, but now she was starting to worry about Stefan as well.

Elena spotted the horse shoes on the fence posts, and saw Matt in the distance nailing more into place. She supposed that meant her friend had chosen Team Alexandra. That thought gave her pause. Had there really been lines drawn in the dirt? Was there a Team Bonnie as well? Is that how the others saw her, she wondered. How had it gotten this far?

Was there some third party manipulating them all from the shadows? Playing on the natural hatred between witches and necromancers? Playing on the weaknesses in the Salvatore's relationship? Was that paranoia? Was it just that she didn't want to believe that her friends would divide into an us vs. them mentality so easily on their own?

* * *

"okay, done." Caroline said setting aside the pencil and looking at her work on the nearly transparent velum.

"Excellent "She said.

"So, now what?" Meredith asked looking over Caroline's shoulder.

"We put this over top of the other map. If the vampires that have him are working with Timon, they will either be keeping him at or taking him to a ritual site. For us that means a place with a lot of dead energy. "

"Like a cemetery or where a lot of people have died?" Caroline asked.

"Correct. I hope that by knowing where these places are I can make an educated guess where he is vs an uneducated one." She picked up the bowl of colored sand and put a little grave dust into it. Alexandra mixed it in and said two words over it in archaic French before pouring it out over the map.

The colors in the sand separated and spread across the map clumping densely in some places, loosely in others. But there was thin film of white dust scattered all over the map. Alexandra looked it over frowning. "This whole town is a powder keg waiting to go off." She said "here is where we are. " She said indicating a cluster of various sands on Fell's Church road. "Red is vampire, black is necromancer, white is spirit of some sort. And we have more vampires here than I see in the room. Meredith, would you open the door. Do not invite them in though. "

"Alright." She said going to open the door to see Elena and Stefan standing there. "We're busy at the moment. " Meredith told them. "you'll have to wait.

Alexandra pointed out the various cemeteries "I assume this is what Jeremy calls the witch house?" She asked indicating the green and white mix of colors. "Green is for witch. Gold is werewolf… I thought you said that all the hybrids were dead." She said noticing several points of red and gold sand tightly clumped together.

"They have to be. Klaus is dead." Elena said from the doorway.

"Do you see where they have Damon?" Stefan asked.

Alexandra over to the door and leveled a steely glare at Stefan who fell silent. "There are two locations with both necromancer and vampire. There are locations with hybrids, there are locations with just vampires, and the town is overloaded with more spirits than are local. If He is with Timon then I know where he is, if he is being kept somewhere else I don't know. This isn't a rite designed to pin point people it's designed to show me what's in a city. " She righted herself and walked to the door. "What do you want Stefan?" She asked tightly.

"Bonnie says- " He began "Wait no please-" Stefan pleaded as Alex started to close the door. "Please Alex."

She stopped. "What does your witch want? I found the fetter she put in my home to allow her ancestor in. That won't be happening again."

Elena stepped in between the two of them. "I love him too. Alright. I love Damon too. I want to find him as much as you do. Please, just hear us out."

Alex looked at the teenager and sighed. "Alright. What is it you know or need to know." She didn't look at Stefan.

"We know for a fact that the Originals are working with the other necromancer. And they are looking for Tyler Lockwood for some reason and can't find him. I was told that not everyone is trapped on the other side that sometimes people go on to find peace. "

"They do. But a powerful enough necromancer can bring them back temporarily. I suspect that is why they brought in Timon. " Alex said.

"Bonnie said that vampires are high on the list of spell components for necromancers."

"Yes they are." Alex said with a deceptive calm, like a teacher dealing with a room of unruly students. "Especially for divination. It mixes necromancy with haruspicy, and provides a powerful connection because the subject is both living and dead. " her hands trembled a little and it was hard for Elena to tell if it was worry or rage that caused it. Stefan assumed and looked away.

Elena swallowed. "W-will it kill him?" She asked breathlessly.

"It depends on which organs Timon is reading. As long as they leave his heart alone he should live, but it will be painful and healing will be slow. " She knew of necromancers that kept vampires prisoner for just that purpose and no other.

"We have to stop it." Elena said.

"That is what I am trying to do." She said impatiently.

"Alex!" Caroline called out. "The sand is moving again."

Alexandra turned on her heel and rushed back to the table. "Timon is moving." She said "And there are several vampires with him."

"How many." Stefan asked from the door.

"Four." She answered.

"There are only three of the michaelsens left." He told her. "Let me help. I'll do whatever you need me to do to prove you can trust me." He had to make this right. Had to. The desperation of it all came through his voice.

Elena looked at him again. Sure she expected that there was that desperation there to save his brother, but Stefan was usually much calmer than this. She gave an uncertain look to Alexandra. Something was going on.

Alex spotted the look and nodded to her. She went into the kitchen and poured a pale reddish liquid into two glasses. She paused a moment and sighed before going to retrieve her bone shaft. She removed the tainted blood and put it in her pocket and put another small glass vile in its place.

She handed each of them a glass. "If you want to be part of this, then drink." She said. "it's rowan and angelica root. I don't know if it will break any past spells but it will keep new ones from being cast. Including the lovely witch induced migraines."

"The rowan will destroy the spell on the ring." He said staring at the liquid. Not that it mattered he'd drink it if he had to in order to stop the ritual."

"Who told you that?" She asked. "Damon's still works and he drank this many times in the past."

Elena drank and gave a look to Stefan who hesitated a moment longer, not believing that it wouldn't curse him to live in darkness again.

"One last thing." Alexandra said and stepped out onto the porch. She grasped Stefan by the shoulder and plunged the bone into his stomach, then pushed him back from her as she turned to go inside before either of them could retrieve the item. "If you betray him again, I have your blood. I will use it." She told him.

"Are you okay?" Elena asked.

Stefan nodded. "I feel strange." He said sitting down. He looked up as a blood bag landed in his lap.

"That's the rowan. " Alex told him. "Someone has been messing with your head, Stefan. Drink up. We need you back to full strength for this. " She looked over her shoulder."Meredith, watch the sand. Keep an eye on the other black mass, not mine. Call us when it stops. We need to be closer in so we can stop this quickly."

Caroline followed Alex out the door, and toward her car. "Do you think you can trust him?" She asked as they got in the car. It was strange to be asking that of Stefan instead of Damon.

"No." Alexandra said. "But he is driven to save Damon. I'm not above using that."

Caroline nodded. "I'm beginning to see why you and Damon work so well together."

"Does it bother you?" She asked.

Caroline thought a moment and shook her head as she started the car and drove off the property. "No. Sometimes ruthless is what you have to be." She said finally. "I wish I knew what they wanted from Tyler… or how they managed to make more hybrids. Maybe it's because they still have Elena's blood and now all they need to do is turn a werewolf and give them her blood during transition. Maybe something is wrong and they want Tyler because he was the first."

"I don't know, honey, but we'll make sure they leave him at peace." She told her.

Elena was driving while Stefan drank and healed. "Are you feeling okay?" She asked.

"My head is clearing." He said, although the guilt wasn't alleviated just because he had been magically influenced. "It's like I've been looking through a filter these last few weeks where Damon is concerned."

"Well, it was probably Emily Bennett." She said. "I mean she's possessed Bonnie before, made her do things before."

"We'll sort it out. Right now we need to find Damon… and hope he hears me out before he tries to kill me again."


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter thirteen**

He'd been compelled not to escape and to cooperate with the upcoming ritual. There had been someone constantly in his head, pushing and pulling until he thought he was going to go mad with it. The moments that his mind was his own Damon had spent imagining ways he was going to kill his brother and everyone he ever cared about. Then he thought of the white oak stake, and entertained notions of wiping out his entire line. Who knew which one of his current captors started the line. He'd just have to work his way through them one at a time. Then his thoughts turned to Alexandra and Timon's plans for her and his plans had shifted. He had to get free somehow. Some things were more important than revenge.

He let them lead him out of the cellar, and out into the light of day. His skin crawled as Timon grasped his arm to pull him along more quickly to the car. He couldn't pull away, couldn't so much as complain or mock him. Damon had never felt so completely defenseless and weak in his was put in the back seat of the car and he turned his head to look out the window as they drove out of town. He remembered the first few years with Sacha. He used to think that she had taken his life from him, that she controlled him too much. He knew differently now.

(April 30 1870

He had been with Alexandra for four years. He could honestly say that it was far better than being chained and tortured by sadistic carnival owners. Then again, there was very little that wasn't better. The down side was his emotions weren't his own. He loved the woman seated beside him more than life itself. He'd kill or die for her. He knew that it was part of the spell or whatever it was she had cast on him and most days he didn't care. Most days he rode the emotional high of it all and didn't think about it. If he did he'd go insane he was sure. Sometimes, when he thought of his human life; when he thought of having choices, and the illusion of being the master of his own destiny, he hated her as much as he loved her.

"Why are we in Stockton again?" He asked with a tired sigh.

"Because someone has to support our lavish lifestyle. " She said "And that would be me. "

"Thank you for the non answer, Miss Sauveterre." He said sarcastically. It wasn't as though he didn't have access to everything of Charles Dunham's still. Not that she allowed him to take advantage of that. It was only used when there was absolutely no other option.

"I don't like it when you do that." She sighed.

Damon chuckled. "Is it a new rule? Don't call you by your formal name?" She had her rules. She had too many of them for his taste. Especially as he found it impossible to break those rules once she laid down the law.

"No, it's not a rule. I just don't like it. It sounds more like what you're saying is you fucking bitch."

"Such language, Alexandra." He said in a more teasing tone which got a smile in return.

"I've been hired by a woman who says that her grandfather is haunting her." She said with a shrug. "We'll find out tonight. So shall we say you are my husband or my brother this time?" Alexandra asked.

"ooh I get to make a decision." He mocked.

"Not if you keep giving me attitude." She laughed.

"Husband," He said. "It's marginally less embarrassing when the maid walks in and finds me tied to the bed."

"You like it when I tie you to the bed. " She said laughing.

"Do I? I don't know what I like anymore." He said, blue eyes clouding over.

She laid her hand over his. "Tell me things you remember liking from before me." Alex said softly. This vampire would be her undoing one day. There were days that he drove her completely insane to the point that all she wanted to do was drive a stake through his heart and call it a day. He did it intentionally. Not that she really blamed him. This was precisely why she didn't kill him. She thought perhaps there was a bit of a death wish there.

Then there were days where he did nothing but make her smile and laugh and those days she could almost believe the illusion was real. That the friendship was real, that maybe he cared for her underneath the illusion. And then there were moments. Fleeting moments like this when he broke her heart.

He looked at her a moment, suspicion in his eyes. He laughed a little then "Dancing." He told her. If he had liked dancing a little less he might not be in this predicament. "Riding. There's a waterfall near where I grew up that I used to play in and swim near. I liked competing with my brother. Anything would do from skimming stones to… Katherine."

"Has she been on your mind again? You always get maudlin or angry when she is." Not that she blamed him for that either. Sadly,the one thing even she could never do to a ghost, was compete with it. Her hair would never be black silk the way Hers was, her eyes would never be the bottomless black pools Hers were. She could be the most beautiful woman alive and she could never compare to the image of Her in his heart. That didn't upset her or make her angry with him, she found jealousy to be the most useless of emotions imaginable. It made her angry with herself that she was beginning to fall in love with the illusion that would never become a reality.

Damon nodded. He hated that he had to answer her. That was his least favorite of the 'rules'. When she asked a direct question, in private, he had to answer honestly. Occasionally he used that one against her. Most of her rules he could turn against her with the right planning and a nearly herculean feat of willpower. She'd eliminated or reworded more than one because he'd managed to work around it.

"Im sorry." She told him. "If I could chase them from your mind entirely without destroying who you are I would."

"What if I don't care if you destroy who I am."

"I'd care."

Damon looked at her intently. Would she? Would she really care? "I'm nothing but a pampered guard dog. You can always find another vampire. I would recommend my brother but I'm not sure that I hate you enough to arrange that meeting. Besides he'd just get you killed. Women tend to drop like flies around him." He said grinning with the memory of killing Callie Gallagher. "And in my current condition well, I don't want you dead." He looked her in the eyes as the coach came to a stop. "But don't think for one minute I believe that you actually care about any of it."

"Ahh, and the angry phase begins. Good. I was getting tired of watching you mope. " She said in a teasing tone to hide that his words did indeed have weight. She would have to give it thought. But perhaps … just perhaps… he could be trusted with a little more of his will being his own. "and as I am sleeping beside you at night, it's good to know you don't want me dead."

"It's not the sleeping that bothers me." He said blandly, before getting out and offering his hand to help her out as well. He was amused that she didn't take it. He was amused when she requested adjoining rooms for herself and her brother at the hotel. "You'll be fending for yourself tonight. Don't leave a string of bodies, " She said, and gave a list of things not to do while in Stockton. Most of them involving being overly vampiric and obvious.

It wasn't until three days later that it ceased to be amusing and he realized that maybe he had said the wrong thing. She wasn't just in a tiff over his off handed remark. Alexandra had actually taken it to heart. She didn't take him with her when she had gone to speak with her client. She didn't tell him what she had found out. She didn't banter, she didn't converse, and she didn't touch him at all if she could avoid it.

"Where are you going?" He asked that evening. It was late enough that usually she would have been in bed by now.

"I have work to do. With any luck we'll be out of here by morning." She said gathering up the bag she kept her tools in.

"I'll go with you." He said reaching for his coat.

She shook her head. "I'm sure you can find your own entertainments this evening." She told him "Do what you like."

"Alexandra… this has gone on long enough. How long are you going to stay angry with me."

"I'm not angry." She said quietly, almost sadly he thought. "You've no need to worry. I will see you later, most likely right before dawn. I've made arrangements for the morning stage." And with that she was gone.

Damon sighed and began to pace the room. She was going to get herself hurt. You didn't go out at night to find ghosts. The restless dead were always around, he'd learned that over the last four, nearly five years. You went out at night to avoid being seen. This meant she was in one of two places, either the cemetery, or somewhere on her client's estate. In either case she was doing something that the normal every day upstanding citizens of Stockton would fine distasteful at best.

He hated that she hadn't told him anything about this particular case. It was as if she was trying to wean herself off of him and his assistance. Why would she be doing that? He wondered as he pulled on his coat.

He decided to check the cemetery first and work outward from there. As long as he was trapped in this damnable situation he was going to protect her. Besides, he told himself, who knew what would happen to him if she were killed. He might be freed, but he might also die along with her. It gave him pause for a moment, but his need to protect her overrode the desire for death.

It didn't take long to find her. He just had to follow the sounds of the fight. Apparently Mrs. Lake's grandfather was a cantankerous old goat even after 20 years in the grave, and pretentious during life by the size of the mausoleum. Occasionally the spirits didn't want Alexandra's help. Those were the times she gave it to them regardless. Those were the times she needed him the most. Why was she doing this without him? Because he had mouthed off? The entire situation made no sense to him.

He stood in the door way taking in the scene before entering. He'd learned that lesson the hard way. Nothing like slamming face first into a protective circle, or worse, disrupting a ritual she was doing to drive those lessons home.

Alexandra had taken a beating, dark bruises were beginning to form, there was blood on her face, blood on her hands from where she had sliced the palms to fuel the rite with her own blood. She was weakening. He suspected the goose egg at the side of her head had more to do with it than any expenditure of energy.

Damon shed his coat, he opened his shirt as he approached. She needed skin against skin contact to draw energy from him. He moved behind her and tugged her blouse up just enough that pulling her back against him formed the first connection. His hands slid around her and up under the now loose blouse.

They both gasped as the energy flowed between them. Damon loved this sensation. He didn't have to be bound to her to enjoy it, he was sure of that. Unfortunately he could also feel the pain she was in and he doubted that an energy exchange was going to be enough this time. Why did she have to be so stubborn?

She didn't use the energy to heal herself as she probably should have. She used it to force the spirit back into its grave and bind it there, and then promptly collapsed in Damon's arms.

"I've got you." He said and eased her down to the floor of the mausoleum. He bit his wrist and forced it into her mouth keeping it there until he was sure enough blood had gotten into her system to heal her. "you need to stop doing this, Alexandra." He said as he got up, lifting her into his arms. "You can't keep putting yourself at risk because you're mad at me."

"I'm not mad at you." She said softly, resting her head on his shoulder.

"You're a lousy liar, you know that."

He took the back streets and alleyways back to their hotel and leapt to the balcony outside their rooms. "You'll feel better in the morning. We'll shake the dust of this town off our feet and get back to normal."

"I'm sorry." She told him as he helped her change for bed, and settled in close to her for the first time since arriving in Stockton.

"That would be the head injury talking." He said, pulling her over onto his chest. She needed more energy, and he needed to lose himself in the sensation, in the moment, or he would go mad. He'd felt that way since waking up with a bullet hole in his chest. It wasn't his situation with Alex that created the seething self loathing only surpassed by the loathing he had for his brother. He knew that. She was just the convenient scapegoat.

"I wasn't lying you know." She told her even as her eyes drifted closed. Not that she was sleeping or even close to it. "I'm not mad at you. I'm mad at me."

"For what? Needing someone else?" That he could understand. Needing someone else created a gaping whole when they left, or turned on you.

"Using you."

Damon let out a long sigh. "Okay, it's time for me to explain the facts of life. Or death as the case may be. I am a vampire. I eat people. It's what we do." He said not quite sarcastically. "You are a necromancer. You enslave dead things to do your bidding. That's what necromancers do. Now I think we have both been over thinking this thing for the last few years and its time we put that aside as a bad idea."

"You want to put aside thinking?"

"About us? Yes. We are what we are, Alexandra. I am not miserable with you. You don't appear to be miserable with me. So we continue our lives as they are with no more dodging me, or putting yourself in danger without me."

"That would be the bond talking." She said, using his words against him. "you were more honest in the coach.

"We have been together for almost five years. Have you not noticed that I am a complete dick? "

She laughed and it hurt her ribs a little "I've noticed." She was healing it was just slower than most who received vampire blood.

"I say things to hurt people. Quit taking it personally . Now go to sleep. Neither of us is going to get much rest in that stage coach.")

Things had changed from that point. They'd learned to work together, to understand one another until one day she had decided to let him go. She had simply broken the bond, and he had stayed because he wanted to. Eventually, as he always did with everyone, Damon had pushed too far too often and she had left him. The fights that did them in were always about Katherine back then.

He wondered if she would think that he had just left town after Stefan had betrayed him; that he had left her as well. He hoped so, because then she would leave and be safe.

He stayed silent as they parked the car and the door was opened. He leveled a heated glare at Kol who pulled him from the car. He was the one wielding all the compulsions currently. He really hated that little prick. He wanted nothing more than to reach over and break his neck. But he couldn't so much as lift his arms to try.

He wasn't surprised that they had chosen one of the oldest cemeteries in the area. He had been told once as a boy by Jonathan Gilbert that it was originally a native burial ground. There had been bodies dug up and cast aside when they put in the bodies of the original founders. It had been rumored to be haunted even back then.

"Damon. Come here. It is time." Timon said.

The vampire growled low in his throat but did as he was told. There was no choice. He lifted his chin and strode confidently over to where Timon stood. He stared into his tormentor's eyes for several seconds then got onto the stone slab that covered one of the oldest graves in the country. He swallowed hard as he unbuttoned his shirt and cast it aside, and then lay down on the cold stone.

A black candle was lit at the head of the slab, the other by Damon's feet. He knew what incense was used, what oils would be used. Damon had never witnessed this done with a corporeal victim but he knew the smells of a divination ritual. He'd witnessed Alex performing enough of them.

He groaned when he felt Timon's hand pressed into his forehead. He could feel the connection form, the much older man's presence force itself into his mind, and his energy flooding him. Damon had thought being compelled was mind rape, but this was worse. His entire being was invaded by the necromancer's presence and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

Timon began to chant, and Damon felt the hooked blade against his skin. His screams echoed through the cemetery and surrounding woods as the blade sank within, and was pulled downward opening him from sternum to pelvis. Timon's hand slid within.

The images flooded Damon's mind instantly . He could see the dead surrounding them, could feel them begin to rise up in anger, swirling around them. He moaned softly, unable to scream anymore.

"Where is the boy." Timon asked. "Where is the one called Tyler Lockwood." He demanded looking into Damon's eyes, seeing what he saw.

Klaus in his coffin, the body destroyed, Tyler was screaming as Klaus was yelling forcing himself inside. The two images merged and swirled warping out of shape like a cubist painting until Tyler was still standing, smiling that smug amused smile, and he laughed, Klaus's laugh. Tyler's spirit stood to the side trying to get back into his own body but he couldn't.

Suddenly the connection faded enough that he could focus again on the real world.

"Let him go, Timon. " It was Alexandra's voice.

"No." Damon said "Run." He tried to yell it at her but he could barely speak above a whisper.

Blood dripped from the woman's fingertips onto the ground and the spirits took heed. Through the pain and blood induced haze he could see them rising up. No… they weren't rising they were being ripped up from their graves violently.

"I cannot do that just yet. Soon. I'll allow you to keep him as a pet if you like." Timon told her.

"You do not allow me anything." She said, stepping far enough into the ritual site to draw from the power that Timon had already summoned.

"I warned you to leave town. You cannot defeat me alone."

"Who said anything about alone." She said and began to sing softly, the words were older than the French she normally used for her rites, her voice was joined by another.

The spirits that surrounded them dove at Timon, fueled by anger, rage, hatred and blood.

Elena crept up on the stone slab. Her mind was on Damon and nothing else. Both Stefan and Alex had made it clear that she was to get him and get as far from there as possible. She looked up to see the other two vampires creeping into position as well.

Damon shook his head seeing her. "I can't" He mouthed silently. "Compelled."

She looked at him quizzically then glanced to the Michaelsen's then back to Damon.

"Kol" He mouthed. "Get out of here"

Caroline crept up behind Rebecca. She knew that the only way she'd get the upper hand on any of them was by surprise. She reached up and in a move that she had witnessed Damon use more often than any other, snapped the girl's neck and as ordered by Alex she gathered a sample of Rebecca's blood with a small thin bone blade.

That left two vampires. One of which had actually lived his thousand years gaining in strength and power not staked and in a box like the others. The only one that had defeated him single handedly was Damon and he was still on the altar.

She looked to Stefan and they converged on Elijah hoping that they could just hold the vampires off until Elena got Damon out of there. Why wasn't she doing that? What was going on?

"August." Timon said stumbling backward.

"Ah you remember my father." Alexandra said in her own voice. "You didn't think I would come alone did you? I am my father's daughter and he taught me better than that." She said and her voice began to grow louder, the second voice taking on its own sound separate from hers, echoing her words, merging his power with her own. Together they began to force the spirits back into their graves decreasing Timon's power base with each spirit they banished.

"I told you I would see you dead for your treachery." Her father's voice rang out above the chanting, and the wailing of spirits.

"Elena!" Alex yelled and tossed the bone shaft to her.

The girl caught it and with one quick move rammed it into Timon's side, the tainted blood that Alex had put back in it flooded the man's system and he grew instantly weaker sinking to the ground. "Damon's compelled." She called out. "By that one." She pointed to Kol.

"He's all yours papa." Alex said softly and let her father's spirit go to exact his revenge upon his murderer. She turned her attention to Kol who had gone to help his brother who was held firm by Caroline and Stefan, the white oak stake held firmly against his chest.

"Don't make me stake him. "Stefan said and Kol backed off, glaring at them.

She shook her hands and fresh droplets of blood hit the ground, "I don't want a war." She told them as she approached Kol. "I like vampires. " Her green eyes had gone dark, and something in her tone gave them chills when she said it and Kol backed away.

Again droplets hit the ground, and two specters rose at her side. With a nod they swooped forward and grasped the boy pulling him back against the nearest tree and holding him in place. She sauntered forward, not rushing, lost in the rage and hatred. She grasped his face with blood soaked hands and turned his head to the side. She pressed a smaller version of the bone shaft into his jugular. "Do you know what it means when a necromancer has your blood, Vampire."

Kol shook his head. "But I'm sure you're going to tell me."

"It means I have the power to own you. I have the power to make your life a living hell for so long as I live and you can't do anything about it. Now unless you want me to make good on that threat, I suggest you release Damon from any compulsions you have put on him. " Her eyes were now black as she looked into his.

"I have to see his eyes. "

She grasped his hair and pulled him that direction, specters holding him tightly as they went. She bent his head over Damon's. "Be careful what you say. You could wind up taking his place there for all eternity" she whispered darkly.

Kol very carefully released Damon, and then Alex snapped his neck. It didn't take much strength to do. You just had to know how and Damon had been a good teacher.

Alex looked to Elijah. "I understand you were once a man of your word."

Elijah nodded once.

"It ends here. This feud between your people and mine, ends here one way or the other." She said as Caroline took a sample of Elijah's blood. "Do we have an understanding?" She asked coldly.

Again Elijah nodded.

"Say it." She said

"It ends here." Elijah said.

"Then gather your family and go home. " Alex moved quickly to Damon and she and Elena took him off of the slab, easing him down to the ground, careful of the gaping wound that exposed his insides which were dangerously close to becoming his outsides. "There is duct tape in my car." She told Elena who was instantly off to go get it.

"Took you long enough." Damon attempted to tease.

"I know." She said easing under him and resting his head in her lap. "It took a while to get hold of my father. Parents." She said shrugging, she looked over at Timon, the poison was taking its toll, but her father had taken his mind already. The necromancer would no longer be a problem. She leaned forward and kissed Damon gently. "I love you."

He reached up weakly and touched her face. "you too."

Elena paused for a split second hearing that, but continued on. "Here you go. Not sure that it will stick but we'll try."

Alexandra nodded then offered her wrist to Damon. "You need to drink." She told him.

"Are you trying to roofee me?" He asked with a weak smile.

"I am." She said and then felt his body stiffen. She followed his gaze to Stefan. "He can't hurt you anymore." Alex told him.

"It's not me I'm worried about." He said attempting to sit up only to fall back into her arms.

" Easy. I have his blood" She whispered softly to him. "Now I need you to take mine. You need to sleep and you need to heal."

He closed his eyes, trusting her completely, and sank his fangs into her soft flesh. He drank until the vervain in her system took effect and he slid into oblivion.

"Okay let's get this wrapped up so that we can move him." Alex said and she and Elena gently wrapped the duct tape around his midsection, pulling the wound closed.

Stefan came closer once his brother was unconscious. Damon was covered with blood and for once it was all his own. He had left him to this. "I'll take him to the car." He said moving to pick him up.

"No that's okay. I've got him." Caroline said and moved in to scoop him up in her delicate arms as if he were a child.

Alex got to her feet doing her best to shake off the darkness that covered her along with Damon's blood. "Go help Elijah with his family." She told Stefan. "The feud is over. " She held out her hand for the stake, which Stefan did not hand over.

"That's okay, I'll be keeping that." Stefan said.

"That was Damon's until last night I believe, or at least it was in his possessions. You will hand that over."

"Elijah breaks his word all the time. You can't trust him." Stefan said. "I will not have the rest of us defenseless out here."

"Let's just say the war has gone cold and I'm the one with my hand on the button." She told him. "Doesn't matter what he wants or you want. It's over. Besides you won't like it when Damon comes to collect that thing."

Stefan glared at her but handed it over. Maybe his brother would take it as a peace offering.

"Now go make nice. I need to go take care of Damon. "


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter fourteen**

The next few days were a fog for Damon. Meredith had set up an IV pumping blood and vervain back into his system. He drifted in and out of consciousness while his body healed. Occasionally voices would drift through to him.

"I think we can let him wake up soon." Meredith said "he won't rip out the stitches now."

Darkness.

"I love you." Sacha's voice. "You'll be fine soon. I promise."

Darkness.

"He's my brother. I have the right to see him." Distant this time, in another room.

Stefan. What the hell was Stefan doing here? Adrenaline coursed through his veins. He forced back the darkness that threatened to engulf him again, and then pushed himself into the upright position, choking back a groan at the pain in his abdomen. He looked down, it was almost healed. Why was it taking so long?

"No. You don't. " Alex told Stefan. "Not until Damon says you do. I will call you when he's up and about."

"I don't understand why you're doing this."

"You don't – " She couldn't believe he was actually saying that. "You know what, you need to get off of my property."Alex said.

Damon pulled the IV out of his arm and stood on rubbery legs. He stumbled forward and caught himself at the door frame. "You heard the lady. Get off our property. "

Alex moved quickly to his side."Easy, Babe." She said sliding an arm around his waist. She started to take him back to the bedroom.

"No. I want on the sofa. Tired of the bed. Bet you never thought you'd hear me say that." He said with less strength than he liked, he liked even less that he needed to lean against her as they walked.

"Damon… are you alright?" Stefan asked still standing on the porch looking in.

"Yep, right as rain." He said easing down onto the sofa. "Gonna be running that 100 yard dash later this afternoon. I might even get in a good staking before dinner. " he winced a little as he adjusted. "That is if you don't get the hell out of here."

"I'm sorry. " Stefan said. "I know that's not good enough, but I don't know what to do or say to make this up to you."

"You can start with Goodbye." Damon said.

"Are you still on the rowan and angelica?" Alexandra asked Stefan.

"Every day along with the vervain." Stefan said honestly.

"Are you saying someone was messing with his head?" Damon asked, and sighed. Well that just figured. Now there was someone else he needed to track down and kill. "Still not a good enough excuse for leaving me there. " He said tightly "Do you know what they did to me?"

Stefan shook his head. "She won't tell me."

"See Alex knows when not to announce to the enemy that you're vulnerable." Damon yelled at him, then winced and eased back putting his hand over his abdomen.

"Am I the enemy, Damon? Is that where we are now?" Stefan couldn't blame him. If they were enemies, he deserved it.

"Yes." Damon said quickly then growled in frustration at the fact that the wounded yet accepting look in Stefan's eyes got to him. "No. We're not enemies, but we're not friends either. We just… share the same parents. That's all." He said the last with a little less conviction than he would have liked.

"Okay. " Stefan said, relaxing. "I can handle that for now."

"For now is going to be a long time, pal. " Damon said, this time with a good deal of conviction. "Wasn't just me you put in danger. "

"I waited a hundred and forty eight years for you to forgive me for the last time. I can wait." Stefan said.

"Fine, just do it somewhere else." Damon said tiredly.

Stefan nodded. "I'll send your things over with Matt and Jeremy then."

Damon nodded "Fine… go already."

Reluctantly Stefan walked away, and Alex got up to close the door.

"You should still be in bed." She said coming back to sit beside him.

"How long were you planning to keep me unconscious?" He asked her. "Not fair with the vervain in the IV" he said.

"You were in a lot of pain, and the wound was healing very slowly. " She told him. "We were going to stop adding the vervain tonight. You would have woken up tomorrow. You're still in pain though aren't you."

"Yeah but it's nothing a bottle of bourbon won't cure." He said. "Have I said thank you yet?" He asked.

"No but you said you love me, I'll take the win on that one ."

He smiled and leaned over to lay his head in her lap. "There's nothing like a couple near death experiences to put things in perspective. " Damon said quietly. "Gotta say that was the most impressive rescue I've had in a while. "

"I had a good team. Caroline is impressive." She told him. "I like her. I can tell she's one of yours."

He smiled a little and nodded."The ritual was completed." Damon said as the smile faded from his lips. The thought of Caroline brought the images back to him in vivid Technicolor. "I saw what they wanted to know."

Alex stroked his dark hair." You don't have to think about that. With Timon gone they have no way to pull Tyler out of his rest."

"That's just it. He's not at rest." Damon said."And Klaus isn't dead."

"I don't understand."

"I think someone did the same thing to Klaus that was done to Julianna." Damon told her. "Only Tyler wasn't gone. He wasn't put into anything either. He's out there in limbo. Not a spirit, not able to pass over because he's not dead. He's just … homeless."

"Caroline is not going to like that." Alexandra wasn't sure what to do about it. She wasn't sure disembodied was something she had any power over. Then again he was undead… this was going to take research.

"Don't tell her."He said. "There's nothing she can do."

"And if it were me that was out there, would you want it kept from you?"

"You don't play fair." He said with a sigh. "There's something else you need to know. Timon told me that he had an arrangement with your mother. As far as he was concerned you were already his."

"Well… then I guess my father saved him a good deal of disappointment." She said coldly.

He looked up at her. "You okay?"

She nodded. "Yeah. It's the hazard of having a mother as old and aristocratic as mine." Alex rolled her eyes. "She forgets that we aren't hers to play with. Or it could be that she's a witch and thinks she has the right to control everyone around her." She shook her head "It's alright."

"Sorry." He told her. "I just thought you should know."

"No I'm glad you told me." She said honestly.

"Speaking of witches, do you know who was messing with Stefan's head?"

"There is of course debate. I believe it was Bonnie all on her own. Everyone else thinks it was the ghost of her ancestor possessing her. "

Damon thought about it. "no… it wouldn't be Emily. She likes Stefan. She always has. Emily might have influenced her to hate what you are, but what happened after I will guarantee you is all Bonnie. "

"Regardless that house has to be dealt with and the spirits bound if they don't move on." Alex said. "Jeremy has told me enough about the place that I can't help believe that its time it was destroyed."

"I'm not going to argue there." Damon said. "How do we do it?"

"Well… I called my sisters." She said and Damon groaned.

"Isn't it bad enough that we have to deal with my brother being all puppy dog stalkerish at the door now we have your sisters coming?"

Alexandra laughed. "Don't complain. They are also going to help with that whole ring situation. Avril thinks that she knows how to make it work."

"Good. Because I have missed being breakfast in bed." He told her smiling. "But you're going to have to protect me from Yvette. She looked a little hungry last time I saw her." Her eldest sister gave him the cold horrors. Having dealt with Timon he had come to understand what the black eyes really meant. Yvette's eyes made Elena's look pale by comparison.

"I spoil you too much." She teased. "Don't worry about my sister. She won't cross me."

"That's that I thought about Stefan." He said. "I get it now, what you mean by you being the white sheep of the family." He shuddered involuntarily. "Timon was a real piece of work."

"I'm almost sorry that he's dead now." Most necromancers broke their thralls in the first few days, creating loyalty through fear. She could well imagine what Timon had done to Damon even in the short time he'd had him.

"There are more important things than vengeance." Damon said. "So why is this taking so long to heal?" The wound itched with the occasional sharp twinge of pain. It had been a long time since he had healed this slowly.

"The blade he used cuts through more than just the physical."She said gently.

Damon shuddered again. " That explains a few things .It will eventually heal right?"

"Yes, it will heal."She said. "Just slowly. How is the pain?"

"I'm alright." He said. "You have that knife.?"

"Yes it's locked up in the mausoleum. " She told him. "Elijah brought Timon's things to me as a sort of peace offering the morning after the ritual."

"He lies. You can't trust him. He will swear that he keeps his word and then he turns like a snake in the grass." Damon said.

"I know. Stefan told me. Elena thinks he is just driven to protect his family. She is very young and very naïve." She told him.

"Until we can make sure Bonnie isn't still messing with Stefan's head we can't trust him either." Although it still hurt at least he knew his brother hadn't entirely turned on him. Problem was that witchcraft wasn't like being compelled, there was more of the victim's personality and decision making involved. With all that Damon had done to him in the past, he had figured it would happen eventually. Part of him had always wondered if this new found brotherly love hadn't been the lead in to a trap. He thought it had finally been sprung when he had been left to Rebecca's mercies. Part of him still wondered.

"You have that look again." Alex said softly. "That old Katherine –Stefan look. " She stroked his hair.

" Just not used to being in pain." He lied, and she knew it. He was grateful when she didn't press.

"Then let's get you back into bed, old man. I'll join you until the children show up." By that she meant Jeremy, Matt and Caroline.

"Hey, you are robbing the cradle here. You don't get to call me old man." He teased as he slowly sat up. He let her help him to his feet even though the weakness he felt rankled.

"Is this where I point out you should respect your elders?" She asked slipping an arm around his waist to help support him as he walked.

"Yeah, cause that has ever happened." Damon smiled, the dark thoughts chased away temporarily.

* * *

Elena and the others filled boxes. "They are going to need a bigger house for just his things." She said sealing up yet another box of books. "Are you sure we need to pack everything up? He'll forgive you. He loves you."

Stefan shook his head "He'll never move back in here." He said. "He's angry and Rebekah was right about one thing. He had been going for the kill shot. He wasn't looking to make me suffer. He was looking to kill me. And that was before I let him be taken prisoner." He shrugged "It takes time to get over something like that. If ever."

"You had no way of knowing what she was going to do to him." Elena said.

"But I should have known." Stefan said "She's hurt him before. I knew they had been party to the attack the night before. There is no way I should have left him there. "He sighed. "He could probably have forgiven me if I hadn't made him talk about Alexandra in front of Rebecca. "

"He'll get over it." Elena said, she didn't notice the look that Jeremy and Matt had exchanged.

"I don't think either of them will be getting over anything any time soon." Stefan said as he carefully packed away what few mementos Damon had kept. "We should take the flowers over there too. They have a few days left in them."

"I'm on it." Caroline said walking into the bedroom. "They'll go in my car."

"Thank you."Stefan said a little sadly and moved on to fill another box.

"Thanks for coming. I wasn't sure if you would. " Elena told her friend as they continued to work.

"I'm not taking sides in this." Caroline said. "I love Bonnie. I don't think she did this to Stefan or Alex. But someone did. So I get that they think it was her or one of the dead witches using her to do it. But they don't talk crap about Bonnie around me and I don't want to hear anything about Alex from you guys. Okay? I'm Switzerland. Switzerland with a lot of flowers to deliver so why don't you help me get these out to my car."

Elena smiled "Okay." She said. "Damon definitely went total over kill with the flowers "

"I think it's sweet." Caroline said. "But I also think I am going to need a gas mask and all the windows open to drive these out there. " She laughed. "There is a definite down side to that whole vampire senses thing."

"Stefan says these were his mom's favorite flowers." Elena said balancing one vase carefully before opening the front door .

"Okay, that's beyond sweet. That's all the way to sentimental. Unless of course he was a mama's boy then it's creepy."

"And you wonder why Stefan thought Damon was being controlled?" Elena laughed.

Caroline put one vase on the hood of her car while she unlocked the doors and popped the hatch. "You know, other than Stefan, I've had more experience with Damon's angry dark side than anyone else here, and it didn't surprise me that he was acting like this. He's happy. He's not killing people or trying to seduce you away from Stefan. Take the win. Maybe you need to take a step back and really look at him, Elena. People aren't just what's on the surface. "

She nodded. Thing was, who else was on the list of people to step back and take a closer look at? "okay. One more load of flowers and you're good to go." Elena said and headed back inside.

Eventually Matt's new truck, Damon's SUV, and Elena and Caroline's cars were packed.

"I still don't know where they are going to put all of this." Elena said shaking her head.

"Well, our marching orders are to put it in the rooms above the millhouse except for his clothes until he's healed and they can sort out where to put it. " Matt said.

"There's a millhouse?" Caroline asked, having not seen it yet.

"Yeah. It's down by the river. It's the far boundary of the land he bought. Found it when I was putting up all the horse shoes. "

"Alex was talking about actually building another house on the property closer to the river and turning the cabin into a guest house. " Jeremy shrugged "looks like they'll be staying in town even if they don't make up with Stefan."

"Well that's a good sign at least." Elena said. She smiled when Stefan joined them.

"I'll help unload then leave." He said and got in the passenger's side of Elena's car.

Matt took the lead once they got to the Fell's Church property and drove past the house toward the river.

"I didn't realize how far the property extended." Stefan said as they followed him. "Damon was definitely looking for privacy. " he shook his head. "I guess I don't really know him."

"Don't over think it. Damon is Damon." Elena said as they neared the massive stone building set against the river. The wheel had long ago fallen to disrepair and now all that was left was the tatters and the rusted gears. "Trying to sort out what is and isn't normal for him is what got us all into this mess. I'm as guilty of it as you are."

"That is all you're guilty of "He told her as they parked the cars. "I remember this place now." He said getting out. "This wasn't originally part of the Fell's property. It was actually Salvatore land. My family's orchard was right over there." He told her pointing across the property line which was well marked by a freshly repaired fence complete with Horseshoe ornaments. "This used to be part of Veritas." He smiled a little, actually pleased by his brother's choice. "We used to have parties here for Halloween."

"Really? At a mill?"

"Right after the apple harvest my father would have the apples that weren't sold or preserved brought here and pressed to make cider. What didn't go into barrels to become liquor was used for the party. I wonder if Damon will have the mill restored. " he said walking around the building, part of him reliving happier times with his brother.

He could almost see them racing around the trees, running past where he was now standing and climbing up into the wheel workings. He remembered slipping and falling into the water. His head had been struck by the wheel and he'd gone under. Damon had saved his life then, diving into the water even though he could have been pulled under too.

Their father had blamed Damon for the accident.

Stefan sighed and put his hands in his pockets, shoulders hunched a little.

"What about the rest of your family's land?" She asked, trying to pull him out of his thoughts. They'd looked to be happy ones but she could see the shift.

"I don't know. I'll have to look into it. Maybe Damon has the right idea moving out here." He said before walking back to the cars to start offloading his brother's things.

Caroline off loaded the vases onto the porch and went back to grab the suitcases from her vehicle before knocking on the door. She smiled when Alex opened the door. "We thought you might want these up here." She indicated the vases.

"Yes, thank you. I appreciate everyone moving him out of there." She opened the door and started bringing the vases in and setting them around the large room.

"So how is he doing? Stefan said he'd woken up." Caroline asked.

"Still in a lot of pain but he won't admit it. Otherwise he appears to be doing better than I expected, which means there is probably a hellish explosion on the horizon so, be wary. Ahm… just put the suitcases over by the door. I just got him back to sleep and don't want to disturb him." She sighed. "we need to talk," She was dreading telling the girl about what Damon had seen, but it was better now than later.

"Okay." Caroline said closing the door. It was the sigh that had made her uncertain. When adults made that sound and said they had to talk to you, it wasn't a good sign. She sat down on the sofa and waited as Alex joined her.

"We didn't stop the ritual in time." She said, "Damon saw what happened to Tyler, and Klaus."

Caroline's heart stopped in her chest. "He's not at peace is he?" She asked softly.

"No." Alex said gently. "Neither is he precisely dead." She explained what Damon had seen, and what she thought had happened.

"We have to help him." Caroline said pale eyes wide. "We can't just leave him out there like that."

"I know. I don't know how yet, but we will help him. I promised you that I would and I will." She sighed. "Once I've figured out how. "


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter fifteen**

The flowers had faded and died by the time Damon was fully healed. There was only the faintest scar left behind to show what he had endured. Alexandra was back at school teaching French to the mindless denizens of Robert E. Lee High School. She was teaching French to Rebecca… and Stefan. At least the little Bennett witch wasn't taking senior French.

He had made her promise to call him after first period. She had only relented because he had threatened to come and sit in her class room the entire day long if she didn't. Caroline had also promised to keep an eye on her as well. To her credit she didn't sound like she was just humoring him when she said it.

Everything was supposedly back to normal. He was in a supposedly normal relationship with a woman with a normal job, and had a new normal best friend in Meredith Fell. He and his brother were back to normal too. Normal as in their most consistent state of being; which was to say Damon feeling betrayed and wanting to lash out and make Stefan miserable.

Not so normal was the fact that he hadn't. Of course he told himself that was because refusing to have anything to do with him was making him miserable enough. Right. Not so normal was the fact that he had nightmares about his brief captivity. When he closed his eyes he could still feel Timon's essence as it had invaded him, he could feel the knife, he could feel the man's hand as it slid into his abdomen. It wasn't the first time Damon had been tortured. But all the other times had been personal. There had been something cold, detached and completely alien about what Timon had done.

He had yet to leave the house. He told himself he preferred the bourbon at home to that at the grill anyway. If he really wanted to get out and walk, there was 10 acres surrounding him that was his and witch free. But he didn't go walking. He sat in the chair next to the fireplace and read, or tried to, until he had to get up and pace again. Which was most of the time.

He flinched at the sound of someone knocking at the door, and swore at himself. He set his jaw and went to open the door, immediately wishing he hadn't. "Why won't you people leave me alone." He yelled at Elijah and was torn between slamming the door in his face and lunging for the man's throat.

"I understand you are upset. " Elijah said in his usual quiet and metered tone.

"You don't begin to have a clue about me and upset." Damon said stepping back from the door. "What do you want? I'm not going to give your blood samples back. I'm not going to give you the stake. Since I'm back on the vervain you can't force me to, so there is no point in you being here. Go away."

"I'm not here to make demands. I'm here to help." He said.

Damon scoffed.

"I just want to talk."

"Apparently I can't stop you so go ahead. If you're waiting for an invitation you're gonna be there until hell freezes over." Damon told him firmly. He'd close the door but the man would just throw something through it to break it apart and stand there talking anyway.

"Did you perhaps wonder why it was that Timon did not make you his thrall."

Damon's heart became wedged in his throat. "I figure he didn't think it was worth the investment since he was going to rip me open and leave me to die."

"He did not, because he could not." Elijah said. "You already belong to someone else. She did not free you, Damon, you are still bound to her."

Damon took a long drink from the bourbon in his hand. "And your point?"

"You told Stefan and Rebecca that she freed you." He said "You were compelled to be truthful."

Damon laughed then. "That's not what I said. I said she performed the ritual, which she did." Elijah already knew the truth, no point hiding it. It wasn't as if he could prove it to anyone. All being forced to be truthful did was make you a better liar. That was a skill that Damon had been polishing his entire life.

"You sabotaged the ritual." Elijah said "Why would you do that?"

"Because I want to be bound to her. I called her here to do it. " Also public knowledge. "She has this habit of getting a guilty conscience and undoing it. So I switched out my blood for leftovers." He shrugged. "Good thing too since my brother was so willing to give me up. And don't think that you can hold that bit of information over my head. No one would believe you. After all she told me to be honest."

"Stefan didn't give you up. There was no agreement made with him to hand you over. He was our first choice for the ritual because of his connection to Klaus. You were simply convenient."

Damon's blood ran white hot in that moment and if it weren't for the fact that he'd have to cross the threshold, he would have attacked. "You stay away from my brother." If someone like Timon got their hands on Stefan… his blood went from white hot to cold in an instant.

"Are you alright?" Elijah asked, frowning.

" I'm fine. Don't think for a minute that I believe you came here to help. You came here to make trouble." Damon said. "Not that I blame you. Cause a little trouble in paradise and I hand over your blood. Epic fail. Now get the hell off my property." He drained the last of the bourbon in his glass and walked over to close the door.

"What did you see, Damon?" Elijah asked.

"As if I would tell you."

"There's more than one necromancer in the world." Elijah said quietly. "Do I need to hire another one? One that might not be so gentle in his divination. They used to call it reading the bones for a reason. Now tell me, what did you see?"

"A pile of bones in the woods." Damon said looking him straight in the eyes. "The kid has crossed over. Leave him in peace. Someone around here should get a little."

"Then Klaus is truly dead."

"I've been telling you that from the beginning. Rebekah and I both saw it happen. " Damon told him.

"Then how do you explain the other hybrids still being alive."

"I don't. It's not my problem. The feud is over, remember? " Damon said "Now Scram." He closed the door and latched it.

He refilled his glass and began to pace again. He glanced at the clock. Another hour before she would be home. He took a deep breath and went to sit down again. He picked up his book with trembling hands. He would beat this. He had to beat this. It was over. Timon was dead and from the looks of it in hell. He was back on the vervain and could no longer be compelled. There was nothing to be afraid of. Not that he was ever going to admit to anyone he was afraid. Because there was nothing to be afraid of.

"You are a mess."

Damon turned to see Alaric standing there. "Good to see you too. I am actually seeing you right? I'm not so drunk that I'm hallucinating."

"You're living with a necromancer and you think seeing a ghost means you are hallucinating?" Ric laughed. "You're more wasted than you think."

"I'd offer but I know you can't really drink so… yeah. " Damon said tossing the book aside. Call of the Wild and he couldn't even get past the first ten pages. "So have you come to lecture me too?"

"No."

"Now I know I'm hallucinating. It's probably vervain withdrawals. They kept me out for days you know. It wasn't the pain making me scream. Not gonna tell her that one though. "

"There is a lot you aren't telling her. Don't blow it Damon." Alaric said, worried about his friend. In spite of everything Damon had actually been his friend.

"That's why I switched out the blood." He admitted. "Every time she lets me go I screw it up and she's gone just when I need her to stay the most." He got up to refill his glass. "So now I won't screw it up."

"And she believes you honestly love her. That's going to hurt when she finds out the truth."

"Who says I don't? Who says I haven't for the last hundred and forty some odd years, " Damon asked. "Do you think I'm incapable of it without magical help or some twisted competition with my baby brother?" he scoffed "Don't let a lifelong obsession with the queen bitch fool you."

Alaric sighed. "I know that isn't the only secret you're keeping. You need to talk to someone about what happened."

"Talking doesn't help anything." He said. "I just need to suck enough of this down to be able to suck it up and get on with life."

"Really? How's that working for you? You can't even leave your own house. It's called PTSD. Honestly I'm surprised it hasn't manifested before now."

"Aren't you a history teacher? Not psychology, right?" He downed the whiskey and refilled his glass. "I'm fine. Or I will be soon enough." He went to turn the stereo on and then turned it up.

" Damon," Alaric moved to stand in front of him. "You have to pull yourself together. It's not over, not by a long shot"

"It's never over." Damon said sharply. "It's just one never ending nightmare. You know the kind where you know you're going to be hacked to bits on the other side of the door and you go in anyway. We keep going to these insane high school dances. We joke about Dance Karma but people die, they are betrayed and gutted like fish. And you know what, they'll go to the next one too because it's what high school girls do and we can't leave Elena unprotected because of the dance Karma." He began to pace faster. "I'm through going. I'm not letting Alex go either. Stefan? He can keep going. I'll stay here and laugh. Good times." He downed the whiskey in one go. "I don't know why I'm bothering with a glass."

"You don't mean that."

"Actually I do. It's a waste of time to keep refilling the glass. It's not like I'm not gonna finish off the bottle." He said intentionally misunderstanding. He picked up the bottle and walked over to the fire place.

"Damon… he got in your head in a way that no one else has. It's still messing with you." Alaric frowned. He'd never seen Damon like this.

"In my head, under my skin, around the intestines. You know I think he felt up my liver while he was in there." He said and his expression shifted, he stared at the fire in the hearth " I couldn't move, I couldn't fight, all I could do was lay there and scream and it didn't matter. I was nothing. A Ouija board with squishy bits for a planchette. Why would I tell anyone that? Who would understand? Why would I want them to?"

"Because it's eating you alive. Because they love you, whether you want them to or not."

Damon shook his head. "Thanks for the concern. I'm glad we finished out back to being friends. You still should have let me break your neck one last time, just saying, " Another regret. "But I've got this." He said hearing the car pull up in the drive.

"No you don't. It's got you." Alaric looked up as the door opened.

"Oh, you've got company." Alexandra said taking in the scene. "How are you, Ric?"

"I'm good, thanks. He's not, don't let him fool you. I'll leave you to it. " he said and faded into nothingness as he walked toward the door.

"That was different" Alex said as she went to take the bottle out of Damon's hands and take a long drink of it herself.

"I'm fine." He told her.

She laughed softly "No you're not. And that's okay. You don't have to be." She could see him visibly relax. "Hot bath?" She suggested heading toward the bathroom with the bourbon in hand. There was more than one way to skin a cat.

* * *

"Do you believe him?" Kol asked watching Elijah pace. He received no answer. "Is pacing contagious? Are we all going to start acting like caged beasts."

"Damon you mean." Rebecca said laughing, even though there was no humor in it.

"Elijah, do you believe Salvatore was telling the truth?" Kol asked more insistently.

"No." Elijah said "Although I do believe his lies are telling." He did not mention the other lies to his younger siblings. They were too emotional and impetuous they would assume it would gain them something to go to either Alexandra or Stefan.

"What do we do?" Kol asked.

"We watch and wait. The girl is the key. Lockwood and Klaus were both courting her. If either is still alive they will not be able to resist for long."

"Caroline Forbes? She snapped my neck." Rebecca said. "The last thing I want to do is hover around her watching her every move."

"My dear sister, when will you learn that not everything is personal." Elijah said with a sigh. "She could have done much worse. Sauveterre could have done much worse." He said glancing at Kol who nodded. He'd looked into those black eyes. "For now we abide the truce, watch the girl, and wait. " He smiled secretively as he set aside his brandy. He had other plans in the works. He didn't need to personally move against the necromancer to cause her trouble. Not when there was another who was so adept at sabotaging the Salvatore's existence.

* * *

Stefan didn't like living alone. Not anymore. He'd gotten used to Damon's morning mockery and now it was gone. At least there would be enough hot water now. It was hollow comfort but one that he planned to remind himself of repeatedly until June when he and Elena were married. Which wasn't as far away as it sounded. There wasn't much of February left. All they had to do was get through the founder's spring mixer, the ball for Miss Mystic Falls, Home coming, Senior Prom, the decade dance and then they were home free. They would be married and he'd live at her house until Jeremy was eighteen.

He stepped into the shower and turned it on only to be blasted with cold water. "What the hell?" He said and got out. He wrapped in a towel and padded down to check the water heater which appeared to be working just fine.

Stefan made his way back up the stairs and paused. There were sounds coming from Damon's room. Splashing sounds. "Did you and Alex have another fight?" He called out as he entered the room and walked around to where the tub was visible. He didn't like to think of his brother with a broken heart but he was more than happy to have him home again.

"Katherine." He said with a sigh as he saw the real hot water thief in action. He turned to go, "You're not staying here."

"Yes I am, and I love this bedroom. Well I love this bathtub any way." She told him.

"You're not staying in this room. This is Damon's room. Doesn't matter if he's living here or not. You don't get to take it over." Stefan said and left.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter sixteen**

"She was actually in Damon's room taking a bath?" Elena shook her head.

"I don't know if that's funny or just really bad timing on her part." Jeremy said as he grabbed a travel mug from the cupboard and filled it with coffee.

"The timing was intentional. It always is with her. Either way I'm gonna head over to talk to Damon before class. He may not want to see me but I can't imagine he'd enjoy being blindsided by Katherine either. " Stefan said.

"Good luck." Jeremy told him. "Damon's kind of a mess."

Elena gave him a disapproving look.

"What? He is. You didn't really expect him to be okay did you?"

"I know he's not doing well. It's obvious just looking at Alex first thing in the morning. She's gone from morning after glow to bags under the eyes and three cups of coffee. " Stefan said.

"Alaric's worried about him too." Jeremy told them, smearing peanut butter on toast.

"He hasn't passed on yet?" Stefan asked.

Jeremy shook his head. "He said he'd always be here if I need him and you know he forgave Damon. So he's out there a lot trying to help him. Anyway I'm out of here. I'm headed out there after school for another lesson so don't plan on me for dinner or anything." He told his sister and headed out the door.

"He's headed in to school with Matt. He's barely spending any time with Bonnie at all. " Elena said. "It's like there has been this line drawn and one side is Team Alex and the other side is Team Bonnie. I don't like it."

"So walk the middle like Caroline. " Stefan suggested. "You don't have to choose sides just because two people don't like each other."

"It's more than not liking each other. I keep expecting war to be declared." Elena said.

"I think it already has been. But not by either of them." Stefan leaned in to kiss her. "I'll drive you to school before heading over to Damon's place."

* * *

"I will be bringing Jeremy home with me after work. " Sasha told him as she handed over his breakfast. She didn't trust him to put everything in his diet right now. He was ramping up to a major self destructive blow out and she wanted to pad the edges as much as possible.

Damon nodded. "How's he coming along?" He asked. He liked the kid and not just because he was Elena's brother. Kid had spunk. It annoyed the hell out of him when he mouthed off, but at the same time, he liked that about Jeremy. The kid was going to need a back bone of steel to deal with it all.

"He's doing really well. He's picking things up quickly. Jeremy has a good head on his shoulders as long as it doesn't involve girls." She said.

"Are you saying that just because he's almost dating Bonnie?" Damon asked wrinkling his nose at the taste. He'd just wash it out of his mouth later with whiskey he supposed.

"Not just Bonnie. We talked about the ghost night incident. He tends to let himself be used pretty easily. He's going to have to be careful. There are a lot of spirits that will latch onto that weakness. I leave the Bonnie situation alone with him and Caroline. As long as they are dosing up with Rowan or wearing it somewhere I'm satisfied."

Damon frowned. His brother was supposedly doing the same. Could he trust him again? Hell he didn't trust himself at the moment how was he supposed to trust Stefan. There was one person in the world that he trusted in that moment and he was looking at her. Even that was because of the bond. That was just one more reason to be glad that he had switched out the blood.

"Yeah, okay. It's not just spells that create the problem though. " Damon said and set aside the empty glass. "We'll just have to keep an eye on them."

Alex put her arms around him and rested her head on his chest. "We will." She said looking up at him after a moment. "Want to join me for lunch today?" She asked.

"Nah. I thought I'd get to work sorting out where to put my stuff. I can't leave it in the millhouse forever." He said, his heart racing at the thought of leaving the house much less the property.

"Okay. " she said softly. She knew he wouldn't. He couldn't, and she couldn't help him because he wouldn't let her.

"I'm sorry."

She reached up to caress his cheek. "You have nothing to be sorry for. " Alex told him.

He leaned into her touch and turned his head to kiss her palm. "Just don't leave me." He whispered, not realizing the words had been said aloud.

"Never." She said. "you're stuck with me, for the rest of our lives."

"Promise?" He asked.

"I promise." She kissed him tenderly. "I'll see you when I get home."

Damon walked her to the door, and stood in the doorway watching as she got into the car and drove away. She promised but he didn't know how long she'd put up with him the way he was now. He didn't know how long he'd be able to put up with it. More than once he'd thought about removing his ring and just standing in the sunshine. He hated being that weak.

He left the door open, staring out at the late winter weather. A few short weeks to spring. The orchard would start blooming and she'd want to walk in it. She'd want to walk with him. She'd want to go dancing when the founder's balls began to happen. She'd be out there alone and he'd be sitting there staring into the fire place while life happened around them.

He took a deep breath and walked toward the door. He clenched his fists and stepped up to the threshold. He took a step out of the door and made himself stand there even as he began to shake. He closed his eyes and tried to chase the images from his mind. Even now Timon's voice echoed in his head he could feel his presence and the rules lain out in stone that he couldn't break no matter how much he wanted to do so. He felt as though he was being crushed under the weight of the sky and the will of a dead man.

He was back inside far quicker than he had stepped out and he closed the door, slamming it hard enough to rock the foundations of the house.

Stefan watched from the tree line. So that was what they meant by Damon was a mess. He had brought this on him. He had to fix it. He took a deep breath and walked up to the house. He didn't knock. He didn't say anything. He simply opened the door and moved the porch chair into the doorway so that the door couldn't be closed, and held it there. "We need to talk." He said.

"You know, I think I'm going to enclose the porch." Damon said before turning to face his brother. "What do you want, Stefan?

"Katherine is back." He said simply.

"How fun for you."Damon said taking a seat on the sofa.

"Found her in your room, hanging out in your bathtub." Stefan told him.

"No you didn't. My room is here. I share that and the bathtub with Sasha." He shrugged. "I don't care where she sleeps anymore. She's not my problem." He scowled a moment. "What does she want? She find out about you being engaged or something?"

"I don't know. I took off to pick up Elena for school." Stefan said. "Didn't take the time to ask too many questions. Naked and soapy is not really how I want to deal with Katherine."

"But it's how she would love to deal with you."Damon chuckled. "And now you're here, cutting French class. " he tsked at him "Alex wont like that." He mocked.

"I don't care what Alex likes." Stefan said locking gazes with his brother. "This cold war between her and Bonnie has destroyed what's left of our family."

"And of course your actions have nothing to do with that." Damon said shaking his head. "Cause handing me over to Rebecca wasn't your fault at all, was it brother. Just like forcing me to transition wasn't your fault. It wasn't your fault we ended up in New Orleans and I was captured because you were leaving bodies everywhere. Not your fault that you stole Katherine, not your fault that Andi is dead. None of that is your fault is it?" He scoffed. "Whatever Stefan. "

"I was a seventeen year old kid. What did you expect from me?" Stefan asked pushing as many buttons as he could. "I didn't want to die and neither did you. You were just wallowing. Like you're doing now. Wallowing in self pity."

"Go to hell." Damon said sharply.

"I'm not going anywhere. " Stefan said giving a short laugh. "You want to sit there feeling sorry for yourself go ahead. But you don't get to blame me for this. I'm not the one that brought Alex to town. I'm not the one that called for the other necromancer. Hell I'm not even responsible for what happened at the school. I was just trying to save my brother from himself and his manipulative girlfriend. Can't fault a guy for that. " He shifted position a little, preparing himself for the moment when he hit the right button. It was in there he just had to find it. "okay so some witch somewhere decided that I needed a little boost to give a damn in the first place but that's hardly the point."

"You have a point?" Damon said. "I am pretty sure I can find a lot of points around here. One of them just might hit your heart. Probably with a lot better luck than you're having hitting my last nerve."

"As if." Stefan said. "But hey, you stay there on the sofa, and drink yourself into oblivion. I can talk all day. Spent enough time listening to Klaus talk to hear the sound of his own voice that I figure I have a couple days of non stop chatter in me somewhere. " He turned the chair around and straddled the seat, two of the legs still across the threshold and blocking the door open.

"Stefan go home before Katherine robs you blind. Leave me alone. " Damon said and got up to turn on the stereo.

Stefan lobbed a rock at the stereo hard enough to embed itself into the plastic casing.

"Hey!" Damon yelled.

"Another trick I picked up from Klaus. Apparently he and Elijah used to skim stones too." He bounced another stone in his hand.

"If you throw that I'll-"

This time it went through a window, barely missing several glass bottles. "You'll what? Stand there and yell at me some more?" Stefan asked, another stone in hand. "You want me to quit? You want me to leave you're gonna have to come and make me." Come on, Damon, get mad, get really mad. You can do this. Come on. Stop thinking and just do it.

Damon stood glaring at his brother, until the moment the third stone left his hand then he charged. He grabbed Stefan on his way across the threshold and didn't stop until he had slammed him into the massive Oak that over shadowed the lawn.

Stefan knew better than to let go now. He pushed off of the oak and headed them into the thick trees going toward the river.

The brothers fought. Damon unleashed all the anger and fear and pain he felt onto his younger brother. Stefan fought back just enough to keep Damon going and himself in one piece. He groaned as he slammed into the stone wall of the millhouse repeatedly. He began to wonder if he hadn't pushed too far.

Stefan couldn't tell if it was his blood rushing in his ears or the river rushing past them. He grinned then, and gave a roar as he charged Damon and the two brothers went off the small dock and into the frigid waters below.

The struggle continued, each brother trying to hold the other under. The water lessened the impact of the blows until Damon finally rolled his eyes and said. " God, Enough." And promptly broke Stefan's neck.

Stefan woke with a gasp, lying on the river bank soaking wet, with his brother sitting beside him.

"You're fixing that window and replacing the stereo." Damon told him.

"It got you out of the house." He said with a grin only to have Damon shove him off the bank back into the water.

Damon stood watching as Stefan slogged his way out of the river, and then started walking back toward the house. "Come on, brother. We have to get Katherine out of your house and then I have a lunch date to keep. No… reverse that."

"This mean you've forgiven me?" Stefan asked as they walked.

"No. " Damon shook his head."I'm just not interested in killing you anymore."

"It's a start." Stefan said.

Damon gave him a look and ran back to the house. He stepped inside. "And you owe me a bottle of bourbon." He said spotting instantly where the last stone had landed. "I'd make you clean this mess up but I can't invite you in." He told his brother. He still wasn't sure he wanted to yet so it was just fine that Alex had to be the one to do that.

He changed out of his wet clothing and shaved for the first time in several days. He looked almost like his old self when he came out and cleared the broken glass and mopped up the bourbon. "Fortunately for you." He said looking at his soaking wet brother at the door. "You don't have to come inside to replace that window." He said then tossed him a change of clothes.

"Especially since I can just hire someone to come out and do it." Stefan said.

"That's cheating." Damon said walking toward the door. His hands still shook so as soon as the door was closed and locked he shoved them into his pockets. "You're driving."

* * *

Alexandra wasn't sure what to do about Damon. If she tried to go in and undo whatever it was Timon had done, she would just make it worse because it would be another invasion. Her mind wasn't on her work and the students knew it. Fortunately for her they were more than willing to pretend to be working on written assignments while she sent emails back and forth with her sister.

She was relieved when the last of her students left for lunch hour. She was exhausted. She wasn't sleeping any better than Damon was. She couldn't treat him as she had before when they were together. It was different now. He wasn't her property. She couldn't simply order him to lie down and let her into his head. She worried that one day she would have to though before it drove him mad.

Yvette would be no help. She was of the opinion that Vampires were livestock and nothing more. Work horses, guard dogs and occasionally sacrificial lambs. So Alex did not mention it when she wrote, discussing only the witch house and the situation with Tyler Lockwood. Her sister found the fact that she was in love with a vampire as distasteful as having fallen in love with ones dog. Alexandra didn't hide it, but it had become the elephant in the room.

She heard the class room door open . She looked up and smiled seeing Damon standing there. "Hi." She said getting up to go hug him. He looked better. So much better. It was still there around the edges. What ever it was that had been done to his mind was still there but he looked more in control.

He leaned in to kiss her. "I decided the boxes could wait. " he told her. "That and Stefan came out to the house. "

"How did that go?" She asked as he led her out into the corridor. She had wondered where the boy had been during first period.

"He busted the stereo, a window and my last bottle of bourbon." Damon said. " All of which he is going to replace. I beat the hell out of him, broke his neck and tossed him in the river. All in all I think it went well."

Alex laughed quietly. " Are you two talking now?" She would have to thank Stefan the next time she saw him. Not the tactic she would have chosen but it worked when she'd been failing.

"Yeah. We're talking. I still don't want him invited in until we know for sure that the witch situation is dealt with."

She could have pointed out that he was taking the rowan concoction regularly. He would be safe from any such manipulation but she didn't. If he still felt the need to set boundaries she wasn't going to interfere.

"Unfortunately, Katherine has shown up again. There's another one not to invite in which means no Elena because she poses as Elena to get at Stefan sometimes. So better just to leave them on the not allowed list. "

"You okay with her being in town?" She asked as they neared her car. She handed him her keys.

"I am completely over Katherine." He told her. "Finding out that she had been out there the whole time, and had known where we were killed any love I had for her. " He said caressing her face. "However she is currently installing herself in my room over at Stefan's place and I'm just not comfortable with that. Feels like she's picking my bones or something." He opened the passenger's door for her and then got in on the driver's side. "Where do you want to go for lunch?"

"Italian sounds good." She said grinning at him.

"If only you hadn't given me the willow bark this morning." He teased back, "I would be more than happy to oblige. Now you just have to settle for the linguini at the Grill." He was faking it. He didn't feel anything like his old self yet but was able to see the toll it was taking on her now, so he had to fake his way through it until it was second nature. He'd manage. He wasn't going to chase her away like he did all the others.

"I think I can handle that for now. " She said resting her hand over his.

"And after lunch I will go and throw Katherine out of Stefan's. " He said smiling. "I think it's going to be a good day after all."

* * *

Stefan sat down at the picnic table next to Elena and her friends, smiling more than he had in weeks.

"Isn't that Damon's shirt." Elena asked, which got Caroline's undivided attention. "and your hair is wet. What did you do over there?"

"Damon and I went swimming." He said grinning, stealing a french-fry off of her plate.

"In February?"

"You would have to get him out the door first." Caroline said with a slight frown. "What did you do?"

"Just gave him a reason to come after me. " Stefan laughed a little. "We're not good yet, but he's talking to me and he didn't actually try and kill me, so its progress. After he brings Alex back from lunch we're going to go throw Katherine out."

"Why do you need Damon's help to get rid of Katherine?" Bonnie asked. It was too bad that Damon was out of the house. The only person he could have hurt locked in his own home was Alexandra and Bonnie would have applauded that one.

"She's four times our age." Stefan said. "She's not as fragile and delicate as she looks."

"So you think I'm fragile and delicate?" Elena asked, trying to have a serious look on her face but failing.

"No, I think you look fragile and delicate."

"Okay that I can deal with." She smiled up at him and kissed him.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter seventeen**

Katherine was sitting in the parlor with a glass of wine and a book when the brothers returned home. "Damon" She said. "I heard that your mistress had you under house arrest. " And by that she didn't mean lover.

"I don't have a mistress, Katherine." He said. "And you don't have a place to stay. Stefan wants you out of his house so out."

"Fine, your owner then. I can't believe you took up with her again." She rolled her eyes ignoring what he said about leaving. "I never figured you for the glutton for punishment type. At least not your own. You know there are ways to block them. You don't have to put up with her if you don't want to."

"He's not putting up with her. " Stefan said. "They're together. You know, like you pretended to be all those years ago."

She groaned "Are we back to that?" She asked.

"How did you know I was with her before?" Damon asked, frowning. "I never told anyone about our little flings."

"Do you really think Stefan was the only one I was keeping an eye on?" Katherine asked.

Damon rolled his eyes. "If you had wanted a say in my life you should have made yourself known back when I was young and foolish enough to believe that you loved me. But" He said. "You didn't, we've moved on and now you are moving out."

"You need me. Rumor has it Klaus is alive." She said. "He's not going to be happy with any of us you know."

"He's dead." Damon said firmly and swiftly. Even Caroline agreed that it was something not to be spoken of to anyone until they figured out who the witch had been to make the transfer. Alex didn't think Bonnie was powerful enough to pull it off, Damon knew better. "I saw it happen. Twice actually once in person and once while under the knife. So there's no need for you to stay. You don't need our protection which is what you are really here for."

"And people saw me and 26 other vampires tossed into the church and burned alive." Katherine said. "You thought I was in a tomb for 148 years."

"You know this isn't helping your case." Stefan said. He too had mourned her. The difference was he hadn't been compelled. He had been able to move on. Damon hadn't, which left him wondering just how much she had messed with his brothers head.

Damon lost his patience in that moment "Go grab her stuff." He said as he took the glass of wine from her hand, set it aside, and then hefted her over his shoulder walking toward the door.

"When did you go all cave man?" She asked, struggling in his grasp. "Is this what your necromancer is teaching you?"

Damon dropped her unceremoniously on the front lawn.

Katherine winced and shifted uncomfortably. "Touchy subject I take it."

Damon knelt down beside her. "There is something you're missing in this conversation." He said leaning in close. "You keep saying the word Necromancer but you're not really hearing what you're saying. She killed one of her own kind over me. What do you think she'd do to a vampire trying to come between us? "

"You wouldn't send her after me," Katherine said looking up at him and smiling, "because part of you still loves me."

"I don't send her after anything," He laughed, "and I don't love you. Not even a little bit. I've learned the difference between real and unreal. You killed what little there was that was real. Stefan doesn't love you. He doesn't want you in his house. So I suggest you find somewhere else to live, preferably in San Francisco."

"You're in over your head Damon. One day she is going to lose control and leave you nothing more than a hollowed out husk. You know I'm right. I'm right about her and about Klaus."

Stefan set the suitcase on the ground beside her. "Good bye Katherine."

"Fine," She said getting to her feet. "But you both need me. You've always needed me. You always will." She picked up her suitcase and walked to the car with it. "I think I'll hang around a while." She said. "Just to make sure you're okay."

"Good bye Katherine." Damon said in a long suffering tone.

The car pulled out of the drive way.

"Did that seem too easy to you?" Stefan asked.

"oh yeah." Damon agreed.

The brothers looked at each other and headed back inside the house. "She's either taken what she wants or she's hidden something here for safe keeping." Stefan said.

"Unfortunately we don't know which it is." Damon said and sighed as he turned looking about the room.

They searched Damon's old room and bath first. It was where she had set up housekeeping. From there they moved on to the library, and den. Neither of them could find anything particularly missing or new.

"The problem is, we don't know what all Zack put in here." Damon said. "Up until last year neither of us spent a lot of time here and neither of us has really gone through this place either. "

"I know." Stefan said with a sigh. "So what do we do?" He asked.

Damon looked at his watch. "For now we go pick up the girls and see if fresh eyes can see anything." He suggested.

Alex kept an eye on Damon as the evening progressed. The two couples had gone over the house from top to bottom although the ladies felt even less equipped for the search than the men.

"Is it possible she was looking for something of yours?" Alex asked as she checked the lasagna in the oven.

"It's possible." Damon said coming over to slide his arms around her. "It's also possible that I'm not going to fall apart or fly off the handle any time soon."

"That obvious am I?" she asked leaning her head back against his chest. "It's good to see you and Stefan talking again. "

He sighed. "I'm not ready to completely trust him yet, so don't think it means we're back to normal."

Alex laughed softly "Babe, as I seem to recall that actually is your normal with him. You got past it before it will happen again in time. I have sisters, trust me I understand."

"Speaking of your sisters where are they going to be staying when they come into town?" Damon asked, keeping on ear on the conversation in the living room which was going back and forth between sweet nothings and why can't they be rid of Katherine once and for all.

"That's the tricky part. Avril is coming on her own. She's leaving her girlfriend out in LA. So that's fine. Yvette however refuses to travel without Henry."

Damon shuddered. "She hasn't let him go?" He asked quietly.

"I know it doesn't seem like it but it wouldn't be a kindness." She said. "He's been with her too long and she hasn't left him with much will of his own." This might not be a good plan after all. "I'll arrange for a rental for them. They won't be staying with us."

"Not like we have room. It's a one bedroom cabin." He pointed out. One of the many reasons he had bought it. Even when they built the new house it wouldn't be much bigger. Not bedroom wise.

"True enough." She said and turned in his arms to face him. "You don't have to see her if you don't want to."

He gave her one of his looks. "You remember what I said just a minute ago right? I'm not going to fall apart or fly off the handle any time soon. "

"My sister is enough to drive the most temperate of men to drink and violence. And that's the sister that isn't a necromancer…"

"I've had my eyes opened to how your … community for lack of a better word… views vampires. I don't care and so long as she doesn't try poaching the local livestock, I'm good." Damon said. He found that he didn't like being relegated to a status equal to that of the average German Shepherd or Guernsey, but even at her coldest, Alex had never treated him that way. Slave yes. Animal no.

"Don't worry." She said. "That's not what she's coming for. A few years ago Yvette ran into some trouble with a witch. It got ugly. She and Henry both nearly died. " Although her sister was genuinely upset that Henry had been harmed it was more the way people felt about their pets being endangered.

"Well, I'm sure she gave him an extra ration of kibble." Damon said curtly.

She couldn't bring herself to chastise him for it. What was she going to say? That she had warned him they were an unpleasant lot and what else did he expect? "At any rate the fact that a witch has been interfering in our lives has her a little hot under the collar."

"I can't complain about that." He said as the timer went off. Her family was close. Close enough that the divide between Witch and Necromancer didn't matter. They'd had their arguments and estrangements over the years but they had always pulled together when an outsider came looking for trouble. He used to envy her that. Now he was starting to realize that there was nothing to envy. He and his brother were much the same way.

He grabbed the plates and flatware and took them to the dining room. "You might want to get the wine glasses." He told his brother as Elena took the dishes from his hands to set the table. Damon then went down stairs to grab a couple bottles of wine.

He frowned as he pulled them out and something clinked. He reached into the rack and pulled out a gemstone disk. "Found it," He called out as he made his way back up the stairs, "that is unless Zack was into really weird paperweights. "

He set the bottles on the table and then the disc in the center of the table. It was three inches across, shaped like a donut, and looked to be made of garnet. He opened the Barbaresco and took his seat.

Elena picked it up first and turned it over in her hand. "You know if we hadn't had such a nightmare with the moonstone I would write this off as just weird to find in a wine cellar."

"My father had something similar." Alex said. "But his was obsidian rather than garnet and a fair amount smaller. I doubt she would have similar purposes with this though." She dished up the salad and passed the bowl around the table.

"She didn't want the moon stone to use it either. She wanted to keep Klaus from getting it." Stefan said. "Chances are either she is keeping this from someone or planning to trade it to someone."

"What was your father's used for." Damon asked.

"Remember the story I told you about how he saved my mother from the guillotine? That was what he used." Alex said.

"The guillotine?" Elena asked. "okay, I have to ask, and I know its rude but how old are you anyway?"

"Elena!" Damon protested, laughing.

"Two hundred and fourteen," Alexandra answered honestly. "My sisters were born in Austria, but I was born in New Orleans the following year."

"And you stay alive by feeding on the dead?" Elena asked.

"It's not feeding. I know that's the easiest metaphor, especially for vampires, but it's not. I still require regular sustenance. I can live without ever taking any energy again. I use the energy of the dead or undead to reverse the aging process as well as strength to fight when needed." Alex said.

"It's feeding." Damon said. Ignoring the look Alex gave him. "But they consider that term vulgar in the more traditional necromancer circles. They also consider us livestock, and witches to be of the devil so take it for what it's worth."

"It's not that black and white but pretty close." Alex said. "My family is a little nontraditional." She laughed.

"Yeah that happens when you mix necromancers and witches." Damon said. "And now she is carrying on with a vampire. The family has gone to hell."

Stefan raised an eyebrow. "I don't know. You could look at it as an improvement. If Timon was any indication of the typical necromancer."

Damon set his glass down and put his hands in his lap, rubbing his legs vigorously.. He smiled a little as Alex reached over and covered them with one of hers.

"Well it definitely ends the blood line," Alex said with a shrug. "unless there is something about vampires that I don't know." She laughed.

"No." Damon said. "That is not an option. I don't care how many folk tales they have in Eastern Europe about half vampires. I figure those stories were all about the kinky hickey and junior showing up 9 months later."

Stefan laughed. "Good thing too, the last thing the world needs is more Salvatores."

"See, there are things we agree on." Damon said.

Dinner was pleasant and Damon opened the second bottle of wine which they took into the parlor with them.

"So what do we do with this thing?" He asked turning the red disk over in his hand before setting it on the coffee table. Something about it drew his eyes, it was almost as if it was warm to the touch but still cold somehow.

"I don't know." Stefan said. "I definitely don't want to put it back where you found it. "

Damon shrugged. "If you think it's important enough we can take it home with us tonight. She can't get into my place and it's going to stay that way."

"I think it's probably best I never meet the woman." Alex said honestly. She had spent more time living in that creatures shadow than she liked. She resented the hell out of her if she were honest about it. Fortunately Damon appeared to be completely unimpressed with the woman now.

"I think we're going to need to create a way for you to know that it's Elena and not Katherine." Stefan said. "Damon and I have gotten pretty good at telling them apart but it's not always obvious."

"Fair enough." Alex said. "It's not common knowledge what to do to prevent me from drawing energy-"

"Won't work. She was trying to tell me earlier that there were ways to block you." Damon rolls his eyes. "She thinks I'm under your spell." He said with a grin. He leaned over to kiss her. "I would love to say Katherine's an idiot and we can just go on about our lives, but she's far from it. She came here for a reason. We need to figure out what that is."

"We're not going to figure it out tonight unfortunately." Elena said. "And I need to get home."

"We can drop you." Alex offered, and Elena accepted.

Damon got to his feet and picked up the gem stone once again. "We'll take this with us. If she comes back looking for it, play dumb. I'm not convinced this is all she had in mind, but it plays in somehow."

"We'll figure it out." Stefan said. "We always do."

Damon chuckled. "Yeah, after she's already screwed us." He walked over and began to unplug the stereo. "I'm taking this with me. You still owe me a window and a bottle of bourbon."

* * *

Alex added the bubble bath when the tub was half full and then began to strip. Damon had done well today. But it was taking its toll. He was over stimulated. He'd started vibrating from the moment they had left the house. Once he no longer had an image to hold up, when he could settle back into the quiet, he began to remember. She could see that much in his eyes.

"Water's ready." She told him, standing in the door as naked as the day she was born.

He smiled and turned on the stereo he had just ripped off from his brother, along with the bottle of wine that had also come from the house. He walked into the bathroom and watched her slide into the steaming foamy water as he undressed. Any other woman and he would be at her throat ripping it out after compelling her to listen to what was ripping his insides apart. But he couldn't with her. He couldn't hurt her if he had wanted to. Another reason to be glad he had switched out the blood.

Except now he knew.

He eased into the water, smiling at her, even though he felt sick inside. "Well the first family dinner went well enough I guess." He said filling their glasses with the blood red fluid.

Now he knew what necromancers really did with their thralls. He had been well educated.

"It did. She's a nice girl. Stefan can be a little stuffy." She thought he looked ready to bolt any second, as though now that he had found the way to cross the threshold he was uncomfortable back inside.

"That's my brother. Trust me he has always been stuffy; even when he was ripping his way through Chicago." Damon told her and took a drink. "I think I would like to make a new rule." He suggested, waiting to see her reaction.

"What rule is that?"

"No talking about my brother when we're wet and naked." He said, willing his blue eyes to twinkle.

"I can get into that rule. He's definitely not the Salvatore I think about when wet and naked." Damon had failed at the eye twinkle. He just looked sad to her. She kissed him, and then leaned back. Alexandra took a long breath, then a longer drink of her wine. "You know I'm not like him…don't you?" She asked.

"You are nothing like Stefan." He said laughing. "If you were I would definitely not be sharing a bath much less a bed with you. "

"Not Stefan. I wasn't breaking your rule." She said quietly and reached out to grab his hand as he started to stand up. "Damon, please. Stay. We have to talk about this. We have to talk about what happened. "

His heart began to race and his mouth went dry. "I can't." he said but didn't resist as she pulled him back down into the water with her. "Sacha, please."

She moved closer to him, her legs wrapping around him pressing them together in near intimacy. Alexandra caressed his face. "I love you. I've loved you almost from the beginning. "

"I know." He said quietly. "I trust you, Sacha. You don't have anything to worry about. God, you're the only one that I do. I'm not afraid of you. I never have been." She'd never given him reason to be. She'd controlled him in the past by force of will not fear. Now she didn't control him at all.

"I know what Timon was capable of, Damon. " She said softly.

"Then you don't need the details. You can sort it out for yourself."

"It's not about vulgar curiosity." Alex said. "It's about you getting past this and no one could do that alone. "

"Especially not an idiot guard dog." He snapped without really meaning it. "What do you want to know Alexandra?" he shook his head.

" That is not what you are." She said firmly. "I want to know how to help you. But I can't do that if you don't tell me." She took his hands in hers.

"The one thing I hate about what I am is that I'm not human. " He shook his hands free of hers and grasped her face. "I miss being alive more than anything. I could almost feel alive with Elena, I don't have to when I'm with you… " He looked away not wanting to see those green eyes staring back at him, waiting for them to turn black. " But I never felt less than human before that night. He got into my head and I couldn't shake him out. I can still feel him there, pushing against my mind, backing me into a corner in my own head with an endless list of 'thou shall not's one on top of the other. "

She turned his face back to hers and rested her head against his. "Let me help you." She said softly. "Let me in and I can help you."

"You don't need my permission. You know that." He said closing his eyes.

"Yeah, I do." She whispered. "I'm not going to force you to endure something you don't want."

He sighed raggedly. "I trust you." He told her. "Do what you want."

"Tomorrow you'll just take the vervain. Tomorrow night I'll chase him out of your mind." The willow bark tincture blocked her powers. There was nothing she could do until it was out of his system.

"Does that mean I get to take advantage of you afterwards?" He asked trying to lighten the mood even though the thought of what she wanted to do was on the edge of driving him mad.

"As often as you want." She told him.

"Why is it different with you? There is almost a sharing of energy with you. When he drained me it was … violent."

"We can choose how it manifests. You don't gain true loyalty through fear and pain. I'm in the minority with that view. I'm sorry I couldn't stop him before he got to you. "

"You didn't have the energy to get out of bed." He told her, closing his arms around her. "I still can't figure out why they would attack you." That had been the one thing that had bothered him the most about the entire situation. There was no way that Kol didn't know she was being attacked. He'd made a point of saying that she was going to die and then hadn't bothered to fight back. "Not one of them fought back. " he muttered. "I have to talk to Elijah." He got out of the tub, kissing her tenderly.

"Damon!" She said rising as well.

"Hmm now that's an image to come home to." He said grinning impishly.


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter eighteen**

Elijah had agreed to meet Damon at Mystic Grill. He wasn't sure what he wanted but he was willing to talk. He found the younger vampire seated at a table speaking with Elena's brother who walked away spotting him come in the door. He wondered if the boy would have Alexandra or Stefan on speed dial, waiting for the first sign of trouble.

He sat down at Damon's table and studied the man. He wondered how many people would disappear before he found his way home again. "Hello, Damon." He was drinking coffee. He wasn't trying to beat back the hunger with alcohol. Had people already died? Not that he particularly cared. He did however care if an out of control Damon Salvatore was coming for his family.

"I need you to tell me what the hell is going on," he said and took a drink and set the cup down.

Elijah simply raised an eyebrow.

"I'm serious, why the attack on Alex?" He asked. "That part makes no sense to me, especially if your plan was to go after Stefan instead of me."

"We did not attack Miss Sauvettere." Elijah said calmly.

"Two girls that don't know each other showing up in the same dress is coincidence. Kol telling me Alex is going to die at the exact moment she is being attacked and poisoned is not coincidence." Damon said pointedly. "And that's where it doesn't make sense for me. Only once has it gotten lethal between us. Excluding all of Klaus's crap," he said making a dismissive motion," and that was the night Elena died. Which I get, I don't like it but I get it. Usually there are threats made, one side or the other gives in, you let me and Stefan pound on you a little and what's a little friendly torture between friends. Although honestly, I'm gonna start taking it personally."

Elijah raised the other eyebrow, but let Damon continue.

"And suddenly there is a potentially deadly attack on my girl, one that I shouldn't have been able to pull her back from at all. It was Luck, nothing but luck that kept her alive." Damon said leaning back in his seat. "What the hell is going on?"

"I honestly do not know." Elijah said. "I believe that Klaus is alive and that you are hiding that fact. I just want to find my brother. That is what we all want. There is no need to send anyone after Alexandra. It does not further my purposes."

"And yet, Kol is up to his scrawny neck in that attack." Damon said.

"Is this because you want a pound of flesh for the attack made on her?" Elijah asked. The Salvatore brothers seemed to embrace their heritage. The word Vendetta was not lost on them, nor did they did not suffer loss or insult lightly.

"No. Well yes, partly "He admitted. " This whole conversation is because it bugs me. It's out of place, out of character. You have no reason to attack her. It's counterproductive to attack her especially since Timon thought he had an arranged marriage happening there. Not only would it cause problems with us it would cause problems with your own staff. "He pointed out. " Gotta love that whole necromancer working for vampires thing. You must have promised him the world on a silver platter because otherwise he was just scouting out a potentially very powerful thrall." He looked Elijah in the eyes. "What did you promise him?"

"That doesn't matter now." Elijah said, after all the man was dead.

"I think it does." Damon said. "Because either I'm paranoid, which I have to admit is completely possible, or there is something bigger on the horizon than just whether or not Klaus is alive and kicking. "

"There is always something bigger on the horizon Damon. " Elijah said. Odd that it was the impulsive one of the two brothers who was always thinking, always turning over every rock, looking in every crevice. "If there is one thing I have learned, it is that the true balance of nature isn't what people like my mother believe it to be. It's in the eternal struggle to survive. When a creature is made, it must eventually have its equal and opposite number. Before the first vampire, or the first werewolf, there were other beings, more powerful still. "

"Your mother created the first vampires, so I know Witches came first, Necromancers as well? Their equal and opposite number…"

Elijah nodded. "They are mentioned in ancient texts including the christian bible. It's hard to say if the Witch of Endor was a witch or a necromancer. It's mentioned in the Odyssey. The ancient Greeks had a goddess for witches, and a goddess that journeyed into the underworld to rule the dead at Hades side. Gods have followers. Both are hereditary creatures, following blood lines. Just as Werewolves do. I have found writings that mention vampires long before my birth. " Elijah said. "I don't know whether they were a myth that my mother used as a guideline for our creation, or if they exist in reality. It is possible that there are vampires that follow genetic bloodlines as well."

"Okay now you're just making my head hurt." Damon said and motioned to the waitress that he needed more coffee.

Elijah chuckled softly. "It's a lot to take in. Particularly when you realize that we are not at the top of the food chain. We never were."

"This has been great, educational and all. But it's just dodging my questions." Damon said and fell silent as the waitress refilled his coffee. He smiled at her a little and when she was gone turned his attention back to Elijah.

"We offered to create a thrall for him. He wanted the power of our bloodline, with certain provisions of his own. "

"Is it really a blood line if there is no genetic connection?" Damon asked.

"I have a mortal line. " Elijah said.

Damon frowned a moment then the wheels slipped into place. "I thought it was just because you have a thing for that face, which I can identify with." He said. "But that's not all. You and Klaus were both in love with Katherine's ancestor. "

"Yes we were. " Elijah said.

"You were the father of the child you mentioned." Damon nearly choked. Had he been bargaining with Elena again?

Again Elijah nodded. "Elena was turned with your blood." He suspected where Damon's thoughts had gone. "She will be very powerful when she achieves a certain maturity. " He said "But she will not achieve the full potential of the blood line, because she was not turned by one of us. "

Damon felt a sudden rage wash over him. "You promised him Jeremy." It made sense. He was part of the mortal blood line, he was a medium, he was young and in spite of the world he was learning to exist in he was sheltered and naïve. He'd be easily broken in ways that Damon could all too clearly imagine. He would also be a powerful vampire if turned by one of the Mikaelsons.

"Timon is dead. The deal no longer matters"

"Until you offer the same deal to the next necromancer you hire." Damon said, although furious he kept his voice down. "Was it worth it? Potentially ending your own blood line to find out where some kid's bones are located?"

"It would not have ended my line. Over a thousand years do you truly think that the blood line trickled down to one pair of teenagers in the entire world?"

"I thought I was a selfish bastard." Damon shook his head. "Just as a heads up, I'd leave Jeremy out of any future plans. Alexandra likes him, and as you pointed out we're not at the top of the food chain around here anymore."

"I have no need of any future dealings with necromancers. You've told me what I need to know. Klaus is alive. "

"I told you I saw him die, I told you the boys bones were somewhere in the woods. " Damon said.

"Yes, but I know when you are lying. It's a family trait." He said offhandedly. "You have nothing to worry about. I promised to keep Klaus contained. I will do so when I find him. "

"None of this answers my questions about Kol." Damon said.

"I don't have the answers you seek. Perhaps it wasn't luck but design that saved your woman." Elijah suggested. "It is possible that he was working with Timon to keep her out of the way. I do not know what lurks in my younger brothers head." He got to his feet, "You have gotten yourself embroiled in the affairs of creatures that do not think or feel as we do, Damon. They do not think or feel as humans do either. Their society is based upon power and control. You would do well to find some way to free yourself before it's too late."

Damon watched as the man left and frowned. "How is it possible to deliver so much information and tell me absolutely nothing at the same time?" He muttered. He took out his cell phone and texted Alex as promised that he was fine and would be home soon. "How could it be design?" He muttered as he headed for the exit, and then his car. "How could they know she'd be talking to … "He paused and growled. "I'm going to kill that bitch. "He said. "Freaking mother in law from hell."

* * *

Alexandra handed Damon his blood sans everything in a mug as they sat down to a late breakfast. She wouldn't have considered this course of action if it had been a work day. She felt more confident staying at home while the additives worked their way out of his system. "I hope Avril is right about being able to make the rings work. I would be much more confident with it being an instant on and off thing."

"That makes two of us." Damon said. He hadn't told her about his suspicions about her mother. They were just that, suspicions. He had always hated Julianna; it was easy to jump to conclusions, especially when he was beginning to share Alexandra's prejudice about witches. She could have been used just as easily as Stefan had been. "So what's the plan for the day?" He asked.

"Sorting out your stuff and getting it in here. I'm having a couple book cases and a dresser brought out. Matt and Jeremy are going to bring them. I'm glad the insurance company finally paid him so he could replace his truck." Alex told him. "I also thought we could figure out where we want the new house. The Contractor wants to get a head start on getting the permits together. "

"Sounds like a plan." Damon said savoring the herb free blood in his mug. "Sorry we derailed Jeremy's lesson yesterday."

"He understood. He has a particular dislike for Katherine I have noticed."

"That's because he doesn't know her. Once he gets to know her, he will hate her. Yet be strangely unable to make himself drive a stake through her heart. Like everyone else." Damon said bitterly. "So about Jeremy..." He figured he could lead in with part of what had found out the night before. He had been so completely reminded of how fragile she actually was after his meeting that talking was the last thing he had wanted to do. "I found out why Timon was willing to work for a vampire."

She set aside her fork then, waffles completely forgotten. "What does that have to do with Jeremy?" She asked. She knew that she wasn't going to like it whatever he had to say.

"That whole doppelganger bloodline descends from Elijah." He said leaning back in the high backed dining room chair. "They were going to turn him and hand him over for Timon to enthrall." He told her. "He'd be as powerful as an original, transitioning wouldn't stop his ability as a medium and he's young enough to be broken very easily." He sighed. "We have to keep an eye on that kid."

She nodded. "And make sure that his genealogy doesn't get out." She sighed. "What is it with all these teenagers and no parental guidance? There is absolutely no one to talk to about keeping these kids safe when we aren't looking."

"Parents drop like flies around here." Damon said. "Most of them either are, or will soon be eighteen. I think the officials are too busy chasing vampires, or they were, to do anything about it. Now three of the local teens are vampires, ones a witch, ones a medium and poor Matt is the go to guy."

"I've been paying Matt for a lot of the work he's been doing out here for us." Alex said. She and Damon had both had a long time to amass their own personal wealth. She had her job mostly to keep an eye on the younger generation when she entered a new city. She found that was where the supernatural tended to gain its first foot hold. She didn't know if she would go back to teaching the following year but for now she was committed. Regardless, neither of them had been anything resembling poor since their first few years together.

"That's fine." He said with a shrug. "I feel like an ass because it didn't cross my mind even once." Damon admitted.

"That's what you have me for." Alex said smiling at him as she began to eat again. "So what else did you find out last night?"

"Ever go to a lecture where the guy talks endlessly and you don't know anything more when you leave than when you went in but it felt like you were learning something?" Damon asked. "That's how the conversation went. I know that he doesn't believe Klaus is dead, and that he thinks there were vampires before they were created by their mother. "

"Not as such." She said with a shrug."But there are a number of undead that walk around all fleshy." She said with a shrug. "Ghouls, they literally feed on the dead," She told him "I think it's probably where the modern concept of Zombies comes from, minus the science gone wrong causes in fiction of course. Zombies don't eat, they just work until they decompose completely and become compost. Of course Elijah's Norse by origin, and they have the Draugar who are somewhere between ghouls and vampires I guess. They feed on the living. Not nearly so elegantly as you do."

Damon laughed "Yeah, you've never seen me eat when I'm angry. There is nothing elegant about it. There's a reason it's written off as an animal attack."

Alex grinned."You rip out the throat. Draugar will tear the body apart literally, drink the blood as it spews from the arteries and then go for the flesh. Or they will crush their victims, sometimes they like to drive them mad first. Even the animals around one will go mad. Nasty things. Intelligent but nasty."

"Sounds like you have met one." He said.

"Only one. They're rare now. Dead Vikings… not so much a renewable resource these days. My father took me and my sister on a trip when we were old enough hunting all the things he could find to teach us how to deal with them." She listed off the creatures that were real, or had been real historically. "Revenant's are close to vampires but I haven't heard of a revenant sighting since… just after we parted company the first time. The after math of the civil war left a few around."

He chuckled. "You shouldn't be teaching high school French. You should be teaching folklore at some university."

"But that isn't my target demographic." She said. "You don't get a feel for a place from the college students. You get it by watching the children. "

He shook his head "you know Stefan might be offended to know that he's a child in your eyes." He teased.

"He's eternally 17. " She said. "Even without that extra years between us, he's always going to be a boy in some ways. If not he would go mad sitting through high school time and again." Alex told him. "Now you on the other hand… were a man when I met you. Barely, but still a man" She teased. Damon was old enough to pose as Stefan's legal guardian after all, and to be considered an adult by the community that did not know what he was.

"I still say you're robbing the cradle. You my dear are a cougar." He teased in return.

"Give it another century those forty plus years won't mean a thing." She countered.

They cleaned up. Neither of them cared for clutter or mess. That was the one thing she had noted every time she'd found Damon through the last hundred plus years. His home was always open, spacious, full of light. Even at the B&B where everything had that heavy masculine and aged look to it, it was open and there was light. She'd have to make sure they placed the house somewhere to take the most advantage of the light.

He took her hand and led the way outside. It was easier with her there. It rankled that he should have to consider the first few steps out the door. It should be nothing. Just the conveyance of his body from point a to point b. Yet it took an act of will to do it. To her credit she didn't appear to take notice. He wondered if she would discover his trickery (he refused to think of it as treachery) when she invaded his mind later.

"What do you think about starting up the orchards again?" He asked.

"I think they are going to bloom and produce fruit whether we take advantage of it or not." She said smiling. "But I don't see why not. I was just going to ask you if you wanted to refurbish the mill."

"If nothing else just to see it back how it was, yes." Damon said. "It's a lot of investment you're making here. Not just money either. Are you sure this is what you want? I'm kind of hard to live with in the long term."

"I made you a promise." She told him as they stood on the aged dock near the mill house. "I intend to keep that promise. You are going to have to leave me this time."

He caressed her cheek. He wondered how long that promise would last. "Guess I have to put the property in your name then."

"Our names."


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter nineteen**

Bonnie was sitting cross legged in the witch house. She was so tired of the secrets. The ones she was keeping and the ones she was certain the others were keeping from her. Everything she had done had failed. Sauveterre was alive , Damon and Stefan were making amends, and Klaus was becoming more determined to stay and try to seduce Caroline. The whole point of using Tyler was so that her friend would be free of anything controlled by Klaus, much less some guy that was going to bite her and wind up killing her one day. It wasn't so that Klaus would have a step up in the process.

She heard footsteps and looked up from her attempted meditation. She smiled. "Hi." She was always surprised when Jeremy found her here. She knew how he hated this place. "I haven't seen you in a while. I've missed you."

"You too." He said. "Things have been crazy busy lately. So what's been going on with you?" Jeremy asked.

You too, he'd said. Just the way Damon answered Alexandra when she said she loved him. He was spending way too much time out there at Fell's Church. Bonnie was sure no good would come of it. "I've been kinda busy. Spending a lot of time with Abby." She said. Which was as good an excuse as any. Usually she was spending her time trying to keep people from finding out that Klaus was alive, which unfortunately lead to a lot of time with Klaus.

"That's good." Jeremy said grinning. "Getting to know your mom is great. I know Elena's been missing you. She's got the dining room table piled three deep with wedding magazines. I have no idea what she is going to do with all of them but I know it involves you and Caroline some how."

Bonnie laughed. " Wow, vampire marriage. It better last forever cause they arent gonna be able to get a divorce in a hundred and fifty years. No one will believe them"

"Are you kidding, I have doubts they'll live that long." Jeremy said with a sigh. "It'd be nice to think they're gonna make it to be hundreds of years old, but I'll be happy if she lives to see thirty."

"Stefan and Damon won't let anything happen to her." Bonnie said getting to her feet. "Even if he is moving on."

"He is, and I know that you and Alex don't like each other, so I won't start going on about what she's teaching me." Jeremy said. "I wish you two could get to know each other. I think you'd like each other if you did. "

"I'm sure they won't be too happy that you are spending time with me." Bonnie said "But you can tell me anything. I want to know what's happening in your life. I miss you so much."

"They don't give me a hard time about you I promise. " He said smiling brightly. "How about I tell you everything over coffee? I'm helping Matt with some stuff later but I have some time now."

"I'd like that." She said.

They walked back toward town and Jeremy told her what he had been up to the last few days. He was cautious to keep some things secret. Not out of any real fear of Bonnie betraying them. He trusted her. He just didn't trust the witch ghosts that tended to inhabit her world. He told her how he was learning to control his gift.

"It is really starting to be a gift," Jeremy said smiling, "now that I'm learning to control it more. I can sleep at night without being haunted. I talked to my mom, Bonnie. " he said "I've missed her so much and I finally got to talk to her and say goodbye."

"There are consequences for meddling with the dead, Jeremy. I'm glad you got to say good bye to your mom. I really am but you can't pull people back from the other side."

"I can't pull people back. They have to be willing to come. I'm a medium. I'm not learning to be a necromancer. I can't. I'm not part of one of their bloodlines."

Bonnie relaxed. "I was a little worried about what she might be teaching you. " She held up her hands. "I'm not gonna get into the anti- Alexandra spiel. I promise. I just … I care about you so I worry."

"Just like I worry every time I find you in that house." Jeremy said. "But we each have to do what we have to do. It's not like there are a lot of places for us to go to learn what we need to know. " He said leading her into the coffee shop. "So we both have a lot of accepting to do."

"I guess we do." Bonnie said smiling warmly. At least she still had Jeremy. When all was said and done she would always have Jeremy. With that she could breathe easier.

* * *

Elena nestled closer to Stefan, her arm across his chest, head nestled in his shoulder. She could stay there all day.

"It's almost noon." Stefan said smiling. "You really need to let me out of bed."

"Nope" she said grinning. "I have nowhere to be. Besides I haven't been here that long. "She'd gone home the night before to check on Jeremy, and had come back after her morning workout with him. "I've already accomplished my good deed for the day now I get to snuggle."

"What good deed was that?" He asked. Stefan loved the way she seemed to smile with her whole body. He didn't have to see her face to know that it was there. He could feel it.

"I convinced Jeremy that he could walk the line too. That he didn't have to feel like he was part of Team Bonnie or Team Alexandra." She said. "So he was going to go find her this morning and just talk."

"I can see where that's a pretty good deed. She's been avoiding me since Damon's rescue. I think she feels bad for not being there to help."

"There was nothing she could do. Even Alex had to call on help. Which was kinda creepy, can you imagine being possessed by your father? " Elena said shivering a little. "But you know… she loves him. I can see that now. I think he loves her too."

"He does," Stefan said, "which is good because that means he'll stop wishing he was the one you're marrying."

"You have nothing to worry about. " Elena said. "I care about Damon and probably a little more than I should, but it's you that I love. "

"I know." He said and laughed. "Now let me out of bed." Stefan teased. He could get up any time he wanted to. But he was enjoying having her where she was, as much as he really wanted to get up and get moving.

"No, you're just going to go track down Katherine, she will do nothing but frustrate you and it will ruin an otherwise beautiful day. "

"Alright, how about you and I put Katherine out of our minds for the day, "Stefan said.

"I like the sound of this already."

"I want to go out and look at Veritas." He said. "Seeing the mill the other day" He laughed "And being tossed into the river by Damon, brought back a lot of memories. Good ones. I'd like to show it to you."

Elena lifted her head and looked at him a moment. "Really? Does this mean I get to hear stories?" She asked, dark eyes twinkling. She had only seen the remains of the front gates before.

"It means you get to hear stories." He said and laughed. "But only if we can get there early enough to make it worthwhile. "

She was out of the bed instantly, grabbing an arm to pull him after her. "Then we better get going. Sun sets early out there."

* * *

Matt and Jeremy off loaded the furniture into the house. It wasn't much. Two book cases and a dresser.

"Don't look at me," Damon said "I leave that sort of thing to her. I learned that lesson a long time ago."

Matt laughed quietly. " We're definitely keeping her around if she can teach you lessons."

Damon gave him a look." If you're gonna be like that I'm going to go outside. I know when I'm not appreciated."

She laughed. "The shelves… one in the bedroom and one over by the window. I think there is enough room. If not I can move the bench over a little."

"Yes, ma'am" Jeremy said and grinned as she followed Damon out onto the porch. "They're gonna go make out where we can't see them" He said in a rough stage whisper.

"I can hear you." Damon called from the front porch. "And I don't care if you see or not." He said leaning in to kiss her. He made a purring sound as he did so. "It's already wearing off. " He said softly. He could feel the energy flowing between them. She couldn't help it; she took more than she gave. It was the nature of how things worked. But it was a sensation that he could lose himself into very easily.

"Careful, that gets addictive you know." She said smiling.

"I've heard that somewhere before." He grinned. "But I've got one day to enjoy this. So that's what I'm going to do." Damon took her hand. Even that was enough to give him a pleasant chill. "You have been neglecting yourself, woman, " he said leading her off the porch and away from the house. "none of that is allowed." He could tell just by touch that she was not charging enough. It was part of the bond. But so much of it was habit when he could feel the sensation of her flowing through him that he didn't think to hide what he knew.

"Is that another rule?" She teased. Normally she was the one setting rules but since she had let him go he seemed to be enjoying make quite the list of them. Old habits didn't register as out of place to her either. She didn't feel him the way he felt her. It was the nature of the bond to be one direction only.

"Hell yeah." He said. "Definitely a rule. I like that rule. You don't get to neglect yourself. You need to feed more often. Personally I think fine Italian food should be a regular part of your diet."

"You are incorrigible." She told him, laughing at his antics. He was always so energized when she took a little here, a little there. Eventually it would take its toll though so she would have to keep an eye on him.

"And you like it." He countered. She didn't argue, and he gave a little lopsided smile. "That's what I thought."

"We should take one of the cars up to the mill house and load it up to bring back. " She said.

"You're probably right. It would take too long to bring back a box at a time. And my hands would be full, which means I couldn't do this." He said sliding his hand up her sweater. He laughed as she swatted his hands away playfully.

"Behave." She said laughing in spite of herself.

"Dream on." He said.

* * *

"Your house must have been huge." Elena said as they walked around the burned out husk that had once been the Salvatore's childhood home. She looked into the cellar which was really all that remained. "you could fit two of the boarding house in there alone."

"My father was descended from Italian nobility. He was the younger son of some count or another and had come over to make his fortune. So he was determined to make his home as fine as any in Italy." Stefan said. "We controlled the timber locally, so by the time Damon was born he'd made that fortune and Veritas was the antebellum equivalent of a palace."

"Did your family own slaves?" She asked.

Stefan nodded. "Not many, and those we had were house hold servants. Damon and I were far from spoiled, we learned the ropes as soon as we were old enough to handle the work. Father hired men from the town and the next two over during logging season and during harvest. When the war came it cut our business in half." He told her. "We shipped a lot of oak up north."

"Damon fought in the war didn't he?"

Stefan nodded. "Our father paid for his commission. It's how it was done back then. You bought rank. They thought it kept the right people in the positions of authority. My brother fought for three years. He was decorated several times. He retired his commission as a Captain. He couldn't take it anymore. I don't blame him. My father never forgave him. He saw it as weakness. Then again he never forgave Damon anything. " Stefan stared off into the distance as if lost in the past. "After our mother died, Damon and I only really had each other. He was always there to protect me until he went off to war. I was a boy when he left and when he came back I thought I was a man."

"And then Katherine came." Elena said.

Stefan nodded. " I thought I was in love. So did he. We were always competitive. At first it was fun for both of us." He took a deep breath. "But we were going to forget about Katherine today. "

"You're right. I'm sorry." Elena said.

Stefan took her hand and they walked away from the remains of the mansion. He took her deeper into the woods telling her about the parties his father had thrown at the manor and at the mill, he told her about games that he and Damon used to play. Where they had learned to hunt, and where he had stolen his first kiss.

His brother was enough older than him that occasionally Damon had been more roped into keeping Stefan out of adult hair than really playing. But he'd done his best to make a game of it when he could. His hot tempered, impulsive brother had done everything he could to make sure Stefan was taken care of. Everything from teaching him to hide and move quietly through the woods, teaching him to throw a knife, and beating the boys that had found Stefan's quiet introspective nature somehow offensive.

"You were bullied?" She asked, surprised by that.

"Not after that." He said."I was 13, my mother had just died the year before and Damon was going to be leaving for the army. I was this sullen kid with his head in a book. I remember the night before he left I was at the quarry reading a book of poems by William Blake. I still have that book. "Stefan told her. " The Lockwood boy, I can't remember his name, Jonas Fell and Jim Forbes were out there drinking their fathers hard cider. They were 16 or close to it and they decided that I needed to man up because I was from a founding family." He frowned. "Father had sent Damon looking, and when he found me I was surrounded and taking the worst of it. They never touched me again, even with my brother gone for three years; he gave them a beating they never forgot. " He sighed. His father blamed Damon for not finding him before he'd been hurt. Stefan never understood his father and brother's relationship. It was something Damon had never been willing to explain. "To this day when I read 'The Tyger' I think of Damon."

"Does he know you used to have that much hero worship for him?" Elena asked smiling a little.

"I don't know." Stefan said. "After we were killed everything changed. I changed and I… I can't regret it. I regret how things happened. I regret who I became for a while but I can't bring myself to regret forcing Damon to transition. I couldn't lose him too."

"I think he understands that now." Elena said looking up at the dimming sky. "We should start heading back."

Stefan nodded. "It's going to be dark soon." He heard the sound of a wolf's cry and instinctively looked up to check the phase of the moon. "We need to move now." He said.

* * *

They had moved two loads of boxes to the house, before Damon could resist no longer. He'd taken the down comforter from its container and spread it across the millhouse floor, and then he'd taken his time enjoying his lover thoroughly.

He had missed this. He'd missed the sensation of belonging. He'd missed the almost tantric feel of their love making when there was nothing blocking her. His cries of pleasure were echoed by another in the distance and he smiled a little as he collapsed beside her.

The cry came closer and his smile faded. "What's the phase of the moon?" he asked getting out of their make shift bed quickly and running to the hole in the wall where there had long ago been shutters. He swore as he looked up. "We have to go. " He said briskly, and rushed back to pull his pants on.

As she dressed he concentrated, bringing in the fog dense and low. The crow took flight circling above and he closed his eyes a moment, willing himself to see through its eyes. He took a deep breath and looked outside again. "When I say, you need to run for the car. No matter what you hear or see, you stay in the car. You hear me? "

Alexandra nodded. "I understand."

"Alright," He kissed her gently. "I love you." He told her and wrapped the comforter around her as another layer of protection.

"You too," She answered, worriedly. The cemetery didn't extend this far. There was nothing she could do to help except stay out of the way.

He looked out the door with his own eyes and then that of his familiar. He bent down and picked up a piece of the crumbling rock wall, "Let's go," He said grabbing her and running for the car. He heard the snarl of the wolf, and could see the shifting shadows just beyond the trees.


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter twenty**

Stefan held tightly to Elena's hand as they ran. For the first time he was genuinely glad that she had transitioned. She was able to keep up with him. Unfortunately so was the wolf. Once they reached the older part of the forest again, where the hardwoods had never been harvested by his family he stopped and grabbed Elena by the waist.

"What are you doing?" She protested, "Stefan no!" He tossed her upward into the tree and she grabbed onto a sturdy branch and pulled herself up onto it. "Come on! Stefan, come on."

Stefan wasn't listening. He broke off a lower branch of the right thickness and stood his ground at the base of the tree. There would be no outrunning the wolf and he had to give it a reason not to go up that tree. So he held the branch at ready, waiting for his target.

He saw the near black blur moving at him and he swung, knocking it back into the trees. The animal skidded to a halt and rolled onto its feet once more. It came at Stefan again. Again the vampire swung and he heard the crack of the wolf's skull. He knew he had only stunned it though and kicked it away as its jaws snapped dangerously close to his leg.

* * *

Damon stood between Alexandra and the shadows as she got the door open and inside. She was quickly moving from passengers side to drivers side to allow him to come in after her but the creature moved quicker and Damon slammed the door shut, leaping upward at the last second landing on top of the car just as the werewolf slammed into the passenger's side.

Damon dropped to his knees to keep from being rocked from his perch as the beast continued to slam itself against the car. "Let's go," He called out and moved to the edge, throwing the potato sized chunk of rock in his hand at the monster's head and it fell to the ground, momentarily obscured by the fog. His fog. Damon didn't have to see it to sense it there. It wasn't dead. It was moving.

Alexandra started the car and waited for Damon to get a hand hold on the edge before she put it in gear. The car would not move. The driver's side wheel spun furiously, the passenger's side was locked into place by the damage done by the wolf.

They both swore.

* * *

Elena watched on in horror as Stefan fought the wolf. She'd seen what had happened to Rose and to Damon when they'd been bitten. All she could see in her mind was Stefan dying a slow agonizing death because there would be no last minute rescue from Klaus as there had been for Damon.

Stefan swung repeatedly and the wolf kept coming back. He was growing tired in spite of the adrenaline that was coursing through his veins. Vampires were designed to fight the werewolves. They knew that now from Rebecca's stories. That didn't mean that it was easy.

The wolf was wearing down as well but all it would take was one scrape from the wolf's teeth anywhere to kill him. It didn't have to be a deep bite. This kept Stefan focused on the creature's mouth, one near miss after the other.

He brought the branch up as the creature lunged for him once more and instead of hitting it, he pressed forward, wedging the oak between the creature's jaws. Stefan was the one growling as he pushed forward, slamming the wolf into a nearby tree forcing the branch deeper still and then twisted, breaking its jaws.

Stefan stood over the beast, trying to catch his breath. He stepped back, nearly walking away, then he stopped. He looked up at the moon now clearly visible over head, swore softly, and picked up the branch once more. He rammed it into the wolf's chest, piercing its heart.

* * *

Damon leaped from the car to the ground near the mill-house and the arsenal of river rock. He expected the wolf to go for the easier target and leave the canned food for later. He willed the fog to thin near the car to give the wolf a better view. The wolf ignored him as it began to circle the car, sniffing at it, pawing at it looking for a way to get inside.

"Hey Fido, over here you moron," He said picking up another rock. He'd have to be careful where he threw it. He could easily throw it through the car if he missed. He could hit Alex. "Come on you coward. Free range vampire, right here. " he stepped closer and the thing turned its head and snarled, as if in warning then turned its attention back upon its chosen target

"It can't get to me, get out of here." Alexandra yelled. "Damon, go."

Even if he had wanted to leave her, which he didn't, he couldn't. Another side effect of the bond was that her safety took precedence over everything and everyone else. Even if she had known that she could control him still, she wouldn't be able to force him to leave until the threat was gone.

He might be a guard dog, but he wasn't a stupid one. Damon grinned as his thoughts turned to the day before and how Stefan had lured him out into the light of day. Sometimes you just had to go for annoyance value.

He traded out the large rock for smaller ones that would be less likely to go straight through the car even if he missed his target. "Hey." He said tossing the first one at its hind quarters. "Come on." He yelled and was rewarded with a low growl. Another stone was let loose and this one embedded in the animal's side.

The wolf turned to face him and Damon let fly with a third, bouncing it off the ground, sending it ricocheting up ward into the soft fleshy underside of its muzzle. It howled in pain and lunged at the vampire.

Damon dodged, rolling into the dense fog, pulling it tighter in about him. The dog sniffed the air and followed, as he had known it would. The fog could cover his actions but not his scent and that was what he was counting on as he led it further away from Alexandra. His awareness was divided between his eyes, the fog and the crow that now perched on the hood of the car keeping watch on the woman he loved.

He closed his eyes and waited, letting the fog waft away from him enough for the animal make out his form. He could feel it move through the mist, picking up speed as it came for him. Damon leaped up as it charged, coming down again, planting his feet across its back, snapping the spine.

Ever conscious of still snapping jaws he knelt beside it and shoved his hand into its rib cage. He ripped its heart from its body and tossed it aside. He looked up at the sound of another howl in the distance. "You've got to be kidding me." He said in exasperation, and then raced back for the car.

He didn't waste time talking. He ripped open the driver's side door and pulled her out of the car. Damon picked her up and ran as fast as he could back to the cabin. He closed and locked the door. "Hybrids," He said "they can't get in." The son of a bitch had been after Alexandra. Why were they going after Alex?

Alexandra trembled as she started to look him over, turning him around looking for any sign of injury at all.

"I'm okay. "He told her but allowed her to pull him toward the sink where she scrubbed the blood from his hands and looked for even the slightest scratch. "I'm okay." He said again. "It didn't bite me. I promise I wasn't bitten." Damon pulled her into his arms holding her tightly. "I'm okay, we're both okay. We're okay and we're safe."

"I couldn't do anything. I couldn't help you… "She said trembling almost violently in his arms.

"Shhh, it's okay," He soothed, stroking her hair, "I've got you." He said softly. "I've got you." He led her back toward the living room, cautiously directing her around the boxes of books they had yet to unpack. He brushed her hair back from her eyes, and kissed her gently. She gasped at the sudden pounding on the door, and he turned to face it, not sure what to expect next.

"Damon!" It was his brother's voice and he hurried to the door. He nodded to Alex as he opened it and stepped aside.

"Come in… both of you come in." Alex said.

Stefan and Elena stepped inside, both heaving a sigh of relief as they did so. "How is this possible?" Stefan asked his brother.

"Long story." Damon said getting the bottle and pouring Alex a glass. She took it with trembling hands and he sat beside her once more. He was more concerned with her nerves than Stefan's temper at the moment.

"Well since we have a pack of hybrids circling the place, no one's going anywhere for a while." Stefan countered.

Damon simply glared at his brother, turning his attention back to Alexandra. He wasn't used to this side of her. She was always confident and in control. But there had been nothing she could do but wait and watch like a canary watching the cats claws scrape down the bars of the bird cage.

Elena knelt beside the sofa and took Alex's hand in hers. "Come on. I know how you feel trust me." She'd spent more time than she liked being the helpless human while Damon or Stefan took on all comers. "Let's leave them to argue it out." She ignored Damon's scowl and led Alex out of the room and toward the bedroom.

"She'll take care of her." Stefan said watching the women leave the room.

"I Know." Damon said and downed the whiskey that Alex had abandoned.

"How long have you known that Klaus was alive?" Stefan asked. His jaw muscles twitched as he clenched his teeth tightly together.

"Since Timon shoved his hand in my gut and started fishing around for information. " Damon said getting up to pace. He pulled the fog in closer. He didn't know how many were out there and he wanted to know if they were coming.

"You didn't think it was important for us to know?" Stefan asked angrily.

"Until I know who's been messing with your head no," Damon said "It wasn't important for you to know."

"When will you start trusting me? " Stefan asked. "I never intended for anyone to get hurt. I swear to god."

Damon moved to stand nose to nose with his brother. "It took a witch to rip Klaus out of his body. It was a witch that made the poison that nearly killed Sacha. It was a witch that screwed with your head enough that you left me alone and incapacitated with Rebecca." He told him, and then walked away to pick up his glass again.

"I don't see you're point" Stefan said as Damon paused to take a drink.

"I left Bonnie alone with Klaus before Alaric showed up, and you can't tell me that Bonnie wasn't encouraging you to think I was under some sort of spell. It's no secret that she hates Alexandra. Don't even get me started with how she planted a fetter for Emily Bennett in my house, or the fact that she forced Ric to transition into Michael Jr. So until I have proof that there is another witch in town much less involved, Bonnie is my only suspect, and a damned good one."

"Again looking for how this applies to you not trusting me with important information." Stefan said leaning against one of the book cases.

"Hello, she's Elena's best friend, and as much as we both love her she's a teen aged girl. Best friends rate over everything else in the world. So no I didn't think I could trust either of you to keep your mouths shut because you both trust Bonnie too much."

"For all we know she's being controlled by Emily, or any of the other hundred ghosts trapped in that house. " Stefan said.

" That's the only reason I haven't gone and snapped her witchy neck." Damon pointed out "Even though I should have." He refilled his glass "What were you two  
doing out there in the middle of the night anyway?" He asked looked Stefan over for injuries.

"I was showing her Veritas." Stefan said. "It's not a full moon. I didn't think there was any danger." He looked at his brother pointedly.

Damon sighed. "If you had been anywhere else you would have been fine. I think they are after Alexandra."

"Why?" He asked, taking the bottle and pouring one for himself. "What did you see in that vision?"

Damon explained what he had seen. "I think that Klaus and for the sake of argument. "He said this part rolling his eyes, "whatever witch he is working with don't want anyone to know he's possessing Tyler. To do that they have to get rid of Alex who has promised Caroline to help protect Tyler's spirit. Which isn't really a spirit at all, he's just been kicked out of his own head." He leaned back on the couch. "Can I just remind you that she made that promise in front of Bonnie."

"Please tell me you've told Caroline about this." Elena said from the bedroom door.

Damon nodded. "We told her. I didn't want to, but Alex told her. She's been keeping her mouth shut to protect Tyler. She doesn't think it was Bonnie anymore than you do. "

Elena nodded and came out to sit on the arm of Stefan's chair. "Wouldn't they go after Jeremy too? "

"You would think so. This doesn't help Bonnie's case at all. She's infatuated with him." Damon said. "How's Alex?" He asked.

"She's washing up. She'll be okay. She's just not used to not being the innocent bystander." Elena reassured him.

"So what do we do?" Stefan asked. "You've made your point for secrecy, and we'll keep it. If for no other reason than the less Bonnie knows, the less she can accidentally incriminate herself." He said looking to Elena who reluctantly nodded agreement. "But there has to be some sort of plan."

Damon waited a moment, closing his eyes and feeling out the fog. He didn't want to open his mouth if there were wolfy ears in the vicinity. "Right now we're looking for a way to neutralize the witch house. Alex's sisters are coming out here to help. "

"More necromancers?" Elena asked.

"One necromancer, one witch. Twins believe it or not." Damon said. "We're hoping that once we shut down its influence if Bonnie is a victim instead of a villain it will break the power they have over her. "

"Thank you." Elena said. "For at least considering that option." Damon wasn't known for his self control. She wondered how much of that was him going in for a quick and clean military strike instead of getting bogged down in the humanity of it all. There was no right or wrong there was only victory or defeat. She wondered what he had been like during the war, surrounded by so much death and destruction. No wonder he had retired. No wonder he hadn't wanted to transition…

"Yeah, well don't get the idea in that pretty little head of yours that I'm changing my ways. I've always hated that place. Besides if we don't neutralize it, they'd just find some other witch to manipulate into becoming a pain in my ass." Damon said.

"You still do it." Elena said in exasperation. "Every time someone thinks you're changing, that you're doing good things, you have to find some way to cheapen it."

"I'm not one of your high school friends, Elena, I'm not St. Stefan, "Damon told her. "I'm not going to change and grow and mature into some anti-hero from a romance novel. I'm the same man I was when you first met me, I'm the same man I was when Alex first met me. I don't live my life for anyone else's approval. I don't wear my good deeds on my sleeve and I'm rarely ashamed of the bad ones. Get used to it."

"So… Alexandra's sisters are coming." Stefan said shifting the subject. "When do we expect this to happen?"

"Day after tomorrow. You'll have a substitute on Monday. I'm going to Richmond to pick them up. " Alexandra said coming out of the bathroom, much calmer and in control of her emotions. She went to sit beside Damon. "How does it look out there?" She asked.

"We're good. No one's close. Doesn't mean it's safe to go out there. "He said taking her hand in his. "In other words, you two are staying the night. "Damon told his brother and Elena. "It won't be comfy but at least you won't be hybrid kibble."

"We'll be fine." Stefan said. "I think we can both squeeze onto the sofa."

Alex got up and went to the front closet to take out extra bedding and a pillow for them. "We'll talk more in the morning. " She told them as Damon took her hand and led her back toward the bedroom.

Elena spread a blanket over the sofa then lay the pillow down before removing her shoes. "I don't know what to think about him keeping things like that from us." She said quietly.

"Considering when he found out… I do. He'd been betrayed and abandoned. I don't think I would have spoken up either in his place. " Stefan said as he lay down and adjusted so that she could lay with him.

"Of all the things he said, the hardest for me to believe is that Bonnie would sacrifice Tyler like that. I could understand saving Klaus. So many lives were tied up with his, she would have lost everyone if he'd died, but why Tyler? I can't believe she would do something like that." Elena said.

"He's right though. We can't say anything until we have more information. I think he's proven that he can be trusted not to just go flying off the handle and kill her without proof. If he was going to do it, he'd have done by now. "Stefan said kissing her temple. "We just have to have faith in our friend that there will be no proof for him to find. That they will find out that Klaus had another witch in reserve. "

Elena nodded. "You're right." She said and reached up to turn off the table lamp. "Bonnie is innocent and it will prove itself out." She snuggled in closer. "I love you."

"I love you." Stefan said and pulled the second blanket up over them.


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter twenty one**

Alex had fed them and Damon had driven them over to Stefan's car. She caught herself pacing then stopped and started putting away books from the boxes as she waited for Damon to return. She heard the sound of the SUV in the drive way and sighed in relief.

Damon walked in and tossed his keys into the bowl on the entry table and went straight to her. "I'm starting to think you are more on edge than I am" he slid his arms around her.

"I worry with you unprotected." She said softly, leaning into him.

"Sacha, I have gone almost my entire existence without any protection from necromancers or witches. Hell it was just recently that I started taking vervain." He said with a sigh. "I'm not all that fragile I promise. You never worried this much before."

"Before no one had ever touched you." She said walking toward the window. Vampires, ghosts, hunters and apparently werewolves as she had found out recently, yes, but never a necromancer.

"No, you were on this kick before I was turned into a Ouija board. "he frowned. "You think I'm going to become an addict." Damon said. "After all this time? Seriously?" He followed her over and turned her to face him. "Babe, I spent years with you the first time. We did a lot of touching, a hell of a lot of fantastic full body contact. "He said with a grin "And I was never addicted then. I'm not going to become addicted now. "

"It's both. " She said honestly. "And I don't need a walking talking battery. I don't want to turn you into one."

"You have been mingling with the other necromancers haven't you? " He said "I think I understand now. Sacha… I trust you. I know who you are inside and out. You would never do that. You didn't treat me like that when I deserved it why would you do it now?"

" Alexandra shivered. "It's a little chill in here, courtesy of your brother's ventilation practices." She laughed, but it sounded forced. It was obvious she didn't want to talk about it.

"I'll start a fire. Then we can do what we've both been dreading, I will take the vile concoction, and you can relax." Damon said kissing her brow.

"Okay. I'm going to go get a couple things from the mausoleum while you do that." She told him.

Damon started the fire, and sat before it soaking in the warmth, eyes closed as he waited. He didn't want her in his head. He didn't want anyone in his head. Hell most days he didn't even want to be in there himself. It wasn't even just that she'd find out about his little sleight of hand maneuver with the blood, although that was a big part of it. It was the thought of being invaded again.

His mouth went dry and he felt as if his blood were running cold. Which was ironic he thought. Damon rubbed his hands on his legs, the friction of the denim against flesh grounding him in the present. Not the first time he'd employed that little trick. He'd learned it long ago during the war.

He didn't look up as she entered "Before we do this… there's something I need to tell you." Better to hear it from him, than to find out the other way.

She knelt down beside him and placed her hands over his, to stop their motion. She remembered this well. He'd been less than a year back from the war when she'd first met him. It was that vulnerability that had changed her mind about him then. "Alright, "She said.

"You're gonna be pissed." He said looking over at her.

"It's not the first time. It won't be the last."She said honestly. It seemed Damon spent a great deal of his life infuriating people intentionally. She was not immune to his moods, nor unaware of his self destructive tendencies.

"Really pissed."

"Unless you are about to tell me that you have snuck out to have an affair with Katherine I think we'll get through it. No matter how angry I may be."

"So that's the cardinal sin is it?" He asked grinning a little. "Katherine."

"Only so long a girl can be the consolation prize." Alexandra said.

"You were never a consolation prize" He told her. "I found the vial you kept of my blood and switched it out for human." He told her. He waited for the explosion but there was only silence which was worse. "I knew you'd get another case of a guilty conscience and break the bond. I didn't want that to happen. I couldn't-"

She slapped him.

Damon winced. "- lose you again." He finished.

She slapped him again.

"Okay, yeah. Had that one coming too, but I'm gonna stop the next one. "He told her.

"You didn't want to-?" she switched from English to French and Damon blinked.

"Such language, Alexandra." He said, without its usual humor. He didn't move. He knew she was going to leave. He'd screwed up again. He always did. Didn't matter who or where or when, he always screwed things up.

"I should you know." She said finally. "I should pack up and head back to New Orleans."

He looked down but nodded. "I understand."

"Dear god, this –" She motioned at him "This is why I don't want to keep you enthralled. What is this, 'I understand' crap." She said. "For that alone I should- " She growled in frustration "You're willing to resort to lies and trickery but you won't fight with me to make me stay. " She stood began to pace, "I don't want a puppet on a string, Damon Why do you think I fell in love with you in the first place? I want someone to fight with me, challenge me. I want you not some shadow of you bound into place by sorcery."

He got to his feet slowly, "Sacha-"

"No, don't Sacha me. You didn't do it because you were afraid I'd leave you did it because you were afraid that if I let you go, you'd go after Elena." She yelled.

"Stop telling me how I feel or what I think," He yelled back, going to stand in front of her. "I'm not that weak minded. You always leave. When the bond is gone you always leave. I push okay I know that. I do. But you're the one that goes."

"What did you think being my thrall without my knowledge would change?" She asked. "How often do I have to tell you I'm not going to leave you?"

"I don't know." He said.

"You don't know?"

"I don't know what I was thinking, alright, I don't." He admitted. "I just didn't want to lose you again."

She sighed in exasperation. "Oh you idiot." She said. "I left you in the past because you were in love with another woman. "

"Gee do you see where I might think you would leave me." Damon said. "I had called you to come keep me from being a dick and trying to steal my brother's girl."

"I'm not threatened by a teen aged girl, no matter how much she looks like Katherine." She said.

"I don't love Katherine anymore. I don't know if I ever did. It's possible I was compelled. " He sighed "No I'm not making that up. Stefan insists that we were. She says we weren't. I don't know. Actually knowing her now I'd say it's completely possible. It certainly makes me feel better to think so."

She shook her head. "What am I going to do with you?" Again in exasperation.

"You know you want to forgive me." He said, trying to charm her into a better mood.

She gave him a look.

"Sacha…"

"I'm not going to leave you." She said "I may very well strangle you but I won't leave you." Alexandra sighed and went to sit down.

He sat down beside her. "I'm sorry." He said, putting his hand over hers.

She nodded. "It's okay." Her expression said that it wasn't quite but it would be. "I don't know what I am going to do about it yet. But it's okay."

"That sounds ominous." He said.

"Not really. I just have to decide if I'm going to leave things as they are or break the bond. "

Damon nodded. "Well, it kept Timon from being able to enthrall me himself. And I have the feeling he wouldn't have been as much fun. "

"Don't even joke about that." She said.

He pulled her into his arms, and kissed the top of her head.

"While I'm figuring out what to do with you, let's see about chasing Timon out of your head." She told him.

Damon nodded."So does this mean it's possible for someone to get into my head and take out any of your programming as well?" He asked. "What?" She had given him a look. "It's what it is. "

She sighed and nodded. "Yes they can. If you are willing it's easier, depending on how deep the rules are embedded. If you're unwilling it can be excruciating and there is no guarantee that it would work. So I brought a few things to help with the process." Alex told him. "The fact that you are still enthralled will help. If I have to I can force you to be willing. " She had the feeling Timon had done this to make her tear Damon's mind apart. She was going to do everything in her power to prevent that.

He nodded. "What should I expect?"

"I don't know. When I set things deep I anchor them to a real memory. Reinforce it through time so that what could take days or months to force into being, can happen instantaneously." She said. "I'll be running through your mind. Expect flashbacks. "

"You've done this to people before?" He asked.

" You know I have a vengeful streak." She said with a faint smile.

He laughed a little nervously. "Okay. Well… what do I need to do?" She knew him for what he was. He wasn't worried about her judging him. The problem was he didn't want to see most of them either.

She rose from the sofa and went to the kitchen where she had put the mortar and pestle she had brought inside. She mixed some of the powder within into a glass of wine and blood. "This will make it easier for both of us." She said and took a long drink of it before handing the glass over to Damon who looked at it a moment and finished it off without asking another question.

Alexandra took him by the hand and led him into the bedroom. She watched as he removed his jacket and shoes and lay back on the bed. "Get comfortable." She said joining him. She could tell the powder was beginning to take effect. His eyes were starting to glaze over a little. Good she needed him as relaxed as possible. The more relaxed he was, the more connected they were, the less likely it was to damage him as she sifted through his life. "Take hold of the head board and don't let go." She told him forcing her will through the bond.

Damon did as he was told, not that he had a choice. "I remember this game. It's a lot more fun when we're naked." He said and gasped as she touched his face. "What did you give me?" He asked breathlessly. He didn't remember her touch ever being that intense.

"The sad fact of reality is we actually are less powerful than the male of the species. So we've created equalizers. It will fade when the drug leaves our systems." She sat beside him, staying in contact with him, strengthening their connection to one another, getting used to the feel of him flowing back through the bond.

He nodded, shifting position a little. He closed his eyes as his mind began to drift seemingly beyond his control. He tried to bring it back to the present but felt Alexandra's hand on his brow and all illusion of control was lost.

"Shhhh… it's alright. I've got you." She told him quietly. She could almost skim back through time on those words alone. So often they said them to one another. Damon quieted, and drifted into sleep. "That's right," she said soothingly, and closed her own eyes, drifting back through his life. She went back to the beginning. Skimming through childhood years, scanning for signs of Timon, there were always signs when a necromancer left his mark on a vampires mind. They left a part of them behind with such dealings. It was part of what aged them so quickly.

She found it hard not to get lost watching him grow up. Or to notice how similar their fathers were. The difference being she had been August Sauveterre's golden child. Damon had been his father's disappointment. Nothing he did ever could please the man, or curb Giuseppe Salvatore's temper. The older Damon got the more violent his father's temper grew toward him and the more the man threw the ever perfect Stefan in his face. As much as Damon loved his younger brother, he had loathed him as well. Still he protected him, and their father's image of him, by taking the blame where he could for any of Stefan's transgressions.

She could find Timon hiding behind Giuseppe, using the man's words and fists to drive his own agenda home. She didn't know how to remove Timon without removing the father as well and that would change him too completely. No one should endure that, but to take it away would be to weaken a part of the foundations of who he was.

Timon had been reinforcing those dark times in his life, creating fractures where he had in reality been tempered like Damascus steel. She found him during the war, reinforcing the natural fear and the horror that over whelmed all soldiers at one time or another. He had been there when Katherine had been playing the brothers against one another. He'd been there when Stefan had forced a weakened Damon to feed and thus transition. He'd been in New Orleans when Damon had been captured and tortured. He'd been there when she had taken him the first time. He had reinforced the guilt and self loathing with each death or failure as if he were continuing Giuseppe's mission of destroying him.

He had become the echo in Damon's mind. The voice that repeated every negative thing heard, and carried insecurity and shame for every wrong deed. The ground work had been meticulously laid, and like a master sculptor he had hammered and chiseled along Damon's natural fracture lines. The final blows had never been delivered, and she was afraid to manipulate it much lest she be the one to actually do so.

She pulled back, finding the words there, the endless list of thou shalt not's that Damon said were pressing in against his mind. Commands to keep a man imprisoned by his own will. There were others, things she couldn't find, but could sense they were there. He had expected Damon to be rescued; he'd just never anticipated his own death. He'd been creating a sleeper, a spy. But for whom? Who was holding the keys? Was the threat gone or was it still lurking?

Alexandra exited and slowly lifted her hand from Damon's brow.

He opened her eyes and looked at her, still not moving, hands still grasping the headboard. "What is it?" He asked quietly.

She caressed his face, and took a deep breath before explaining what she had found and what it meant.

"Do what you have to do." He said firmly. "I don't care about what it will do to me, you fix it."

She shook her head. "No."

"You can't trust me if there's someone else pulling my strings." He insisted, and tried to sit up but couldn't "I need to let go of the bed now, "Damon said.

She shook her head and said nothing.

"Sacha!"

"We need information, and I need more time to fix this. If I do this the way you want me to you'll wake up someone completely different. He knew what I would try and… "

"Booby trapped my head." Damon said and lay back against the pillow. "He made it obvious enough to keep you from doing it. So do it."

"He made it obvious there was a problem so that I would go looking, first. " She said firmly. "You chose to stay enthralled because you trusted me more than you trusted yourself. You're going to have to trust me now. "

"It's my head." He said angrily. "You wanted me to fight you well now I am. I mean it Alexandra, I want you to undo it. I don't care the price."

"Damon, someone is trying to use you against me. I have two choices. I can destroy you or I can turn the tables and use you against them." She said softly. Neither choice appealed to her. Both put him at risk and her plan endangered them all but it would give them an edge that maybe they could pull into a true advantage.

"How the hell do you expect to use me as a double agent when we have no idea who is pulling the strings?" he demanded.

"I let them pull the strings." Her voice cracked.

Damon fell silent and was still on the bed as he studied her a moment before he nodded. "okay." He said finally. "You think there is more to this than Klaus and Tyler don't you?"

"I do. I just don't know what. There is too much going on for it to be about one vampire, no matter how old he is"

"Okay. Not that I really have a say in the matter but …okay."

Alexandra caressed his face gently, "I love you." She told him, and then forced her will upon him." you will not feel Timon in your mind, you are free of his presence. You will forget everything about our session but that when you waken. Now sleep."

Damon's body went limp and his eyes drifted closed.

"I know you are here Alaric." She said "You may as well show yourself."

Ric materialized near the new dresser. "This is a risky game you are playing." He said looking at the sleeping vampire. "He's a walking time bomb on a good day. With people playing tug of war with his will, it's not going to get better."

"I need help undoing what was done. Timon was ancient and powerful. I'm neither. " She said in all honesty. "I hope my sister can provide assistance, perhaps combined we can undo this without undoing everything that makes Damon … Damon."

"What do you want from me?" He asked.

"How do you feel about Damon-sitting? " She asked.

"You want me to spy on him? Seriously?" Alaric asked looking at her incredulously.

"I don't want to know everything he does. I trust him when he's in control of himself. But someone has the key to turning that off. Until I find out who that is or a way to break what Timon has programmed in, I need someone who can keep an eye on him that knows him well enough to know when he isn't the one making the decisions or can let us know if he's in trouble or who he might be reporting to."

Ric sighed. "That I can do." He said looking worriedly at his friend.

"Thank you." Alexandra said. "Now I am going to ask for some privacy."

He chuckled. "I'd say get a room but you're already there." He faded away.

She stretched out beside Damon on the bed, and caressed his face worriedly. "I'll fix it. I promise." She said then did her best to shake the mood. "Hey sleepy head, time to wake up."

He drew in a deep breath and turned his head to look at her. "hey. " he said. "Can I have my hands back now?" He asked looking at her expectantly.

"Yes. You're far too over dressed for that to be any fun." She said smiling.

"I can fix that." He said grinning back at her.

"How do you feel?" Alex asked as he brought his arms around her.

"I feel good." He said honestly. "Better. Thank you." Damon found himself saying those words a lot more than usual since she had come back into his life. He wondered what that said about him… or their relationship.

"Good." She said resting her head on his chest, her arms wrapped around him. She had his permission; she shouldn't feel as guilty as she did about things. But she did. "I love you." She said softly.

"You too." He said closing his eyes again.


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter twenty two**

"I'll be late-ish. " Alexandra put breakfast on the table. "Off to get my sisters today and getting them settled in to the apartment."

"Yay, a visit from the in laws." Damon said and sipped at his blood before sitting down at the table. "What's this?" He asked, finding that he tasted absolutely nothing but A positive.

Sacha smiled at the in-law reference. "I thought I would leave it up to you whether you wanted to continue taking the willow tincture." She said. "The rowan and vervain are in the whiskey so I know you get plenty of that. "

"Really?" He asked, studying her a moment. "Your sister is coming into town and you're letting me go unprotected?" That part was teasing. It was bad manners to poach even if you weren't family.

"I trust Yvette." She said laughing. "And you can take it if you want. I'm not saying no… I'm just not forcing the issue."

"I will think about it. But god this tastes good." He said with a grin. "So when are we taking the girls out to see the witch house?"

"I was thinking tonight after dinner, unless you have other plans for the evening." Alex said, cutting into her omelet.

"Nah, I'm free. I'm meeting with the contractor today. Stefan paid him to have our window replaced this morning and I want to go over the final details on the site of the new house. I'm looking forward to getting it done and being able to move in. I know you still have things in storage in New Orleans and I've got a place in Savannah."

"We're going to need one of those rooms to be a library that's for certain," She said with a laugh, "Not to mention a bookcase or two in every room. One thing neither of us lacks is books."

"Which is why we are blissfully television free." He pointed out. "So have you thought about whether or not to keep the bond?" He asked.

"No, so for now things stay as they are. It's what you want and to be honest I'm still a little too angry to make a proper decision."

He winced a little. "Ouch. " he said "I'll let you punish me later if you want." He said waggling his eyebrows.

"Damon, Darling. If I wanted to punish you, it wouldn't be with fun and games in the bedroom." She laughed.

"I don't know there was the time you left me tied to the bed for three days." He grinned at her as he began to eat.

"Yes, because you had tried to escape and it had taken me a week to find you." She pointed out."We had a very different relationship back then if you will recall. In fact I don't think we'd ever had sex at that point. "

"If we had, maybe I wouldn't have tried to get away." His blue eyes twinkled at her. "I mean, I'm not trying to get away now."

"You're incorrigible." She said smiling.

* * *

Elena watched as Jeremy grabbed a cup of coffee and toast with peanut butter and honey for breakfast. "So, does it bother anyone but me that Damon has a more structured life than we do right now?" She said shaking her head.

"He also has a mom now," Jeremy teased, "mom, wife, fill in the blank, to take care of him. And we're fine. We're not starving and we get the job done."

"Not sure I'm comfortable with calling her a mother figure." Stefan said. "Aside from obvious reasons, she is nothing like our mother."

"Adult then." Jeremy said. "He has an adult in the house. " He laughed "Later." He was out the door moments later.

"So what was your mother like?" Elena asked as she hopped up on the island and took a drink of her coffee.

"Delicate." He said. "She was the absolute opposite of our father. I never understood their relationship. Then again I didn't understand anything about my family. She was patient and gentle. She loved art, poetry, music and dancing. The only time I saw my father really smile or laugh was when he was with her. "

"Well okay, aside from that whole delicate, patient and gentle thing, they aren't so different." Elena said with a quiet laugh.

Stefan laughed. "So we should get going and greet the substitute-substitute French teacher this morning." He said.

"That's right, she's going to pick up her sisters today. Do you think we'll meet them?" She asked hopping off the island.

"Probably not. Generally speaking necromancers don't mix with vampires. At least not well."

"I guess not. Witches bullied or compelled into serving vampires… vampires turned into slaves… Now we just have to figure out where the wolves fit into it all" She said laughing. "That's going to be a really uncomfortable family reunion for Damon."

Stefan grinned "I'm looking forward to hearing about it already." He said leading the way out to his car.

* * *

Katherine entered the university and strode toward the languages department. Even at her age there were dialects and languages she didn't know. Particularly dialects of what she thought were French that were older than she was.

She rapped on the door and entered the professor's office.

"Office hours are posted. " Professor Hanlon said not looking up. "I have appointments open tomorrow."

"I'm not a student." Katherine said as she closed and locked the door. "You'll have time for me."

The professor closed his book and looked up at her. It was on his lips to tell her to get out but he made the mistake of looking into her eyes. "Of course, "He said smiling. "There's always time for you. How can I help you?"

Katherine smiled winningly and pulled a chair around to sit beside him. She set the book in front of him. "I need this translated and I understand you are the best in the state."

"Where did you find this?" He asked. "This should be in the antiquities department." He said looking over the hand bound book.

"It belonged to the mother of a friend of mine," She said, "A very dear friend." Katherine said. "I need you to translate this to English. I am especially interested in this section here." She opened the book to a page that showed a sketch of a donut shaped disk.

* * *

Alexandra threw her arms open wide and embraced her sisters enthusiastically. "I have missed you two so much." She said smiling broadly.

"Well you don't have to be such a stranger you know." Yvette said motioning for Henry to grab her and Avril's bags. "It's not that far from New Orleans to Baton Rouge. You should have come around more when you were closer."

"I don't know how you can live in nowhere Virginia." Avril said linking arms with her baby sister and leaning in close. "You're out here because of him aren't you?"

Alex laughed. "Yes. I am. "

"And all this trouble you are having is because of him." Yvette added.

"Not all of it. " Alex said. "I know you two don't approve, but I'm with Damon. That's not going to change so please, please, please just try and get along while you're in town. For the sake of my sanity, please."

"It's just so…" Yvette shuddered "Necromancy and Necrophilia are not supposed to be interchangeable. It's disturbing." She sighed at the look from her sister. "Fine, I won't make things unpleasant for you."

"Are you telling me you've never slept with Henry?" Avril asked raising an eyebrow at her twin's hypocrisy. Henry was handsome, well made and eternally 23. Her sister hadn't chosen him because of his great conversations. The man rarely spoke.

"He's an instrument to be used. You don't literally fall in love with your vibrator."

"Yvette!" Alex exclaimed.

"I'm not the deviant in the family." Yvette said, dark eyes twinkling. "That would be you dear sister. Not even Avril moving to San Francisco and getting married to a cute little wiccan girl topped what you are doing. Repeatedly I might add. Mother is having kittens."

"I'm not worried about mother and her kittens anymore." Alex said. "We get along beautifully from a distance and that includes me distancing myself from her opinions."

"Even now you're a daddy's girl." Avril said, rolling her eyes.

"He wouldn't approve either." Yvette pointed out. "At least tell me mother was wrong and he's still enthralled. "

"Mother was wrong." She said after a moment's thought, but only because if her sister thought for a moment that Damon was a free agent she'd swoop in and enthrall him under the banner of saving Alex from herself.

"Well that's a relief." Yvette said.

"So tell us about this witch problem you are having?" Avril said hoping to derail the subject.

"Teen witch may or may not be the actual problem. She has tied herself into a place of power." Alexandra said. She fell silent until they had loaded everything into Damon's SUV that she had borrowed for the occasion. Her car had been towed that morning from its location near the Millhouse.

"The witch house you were telling us about." Avril said. "Really? Witch House?" She asked once they were out of the echo chamber known as a parking garage and on the road.

"I'm not responsible for its moniker. It is however built over the site where 100 witches were murdered during the witch hunts. One of them the girls ancestor from what I understand along with Emily Bennett who was killed in 1864." Alex told them.

"Figures it would be Bennett Witches." Avril said with a sigh. "That blood line is trouble." She told her sister. "They're backstabbing holier than thou hypocrites. Very much the ends justify the means type."

"Aren't most people?" Alex asked.

"Yeah but most of us admit it." Avril said with a shrug. "It's like the TV evangelist wearing his Christianity on his sleeve going home from his mistress's house to beat his wife. They give the rest of us a bad name."

Yvette snorted at that.

"Anyway, Bonnie has tied herself to that particular place of power. Damon and I want to cut off access to that power. There is evidence that Emily Bennett possesses Bonnie when it suits her or puts her in a trance and puppet masters her. If we can get rid of the influences she might be salvageable. "

"She's a witch. No offence." Yvette said to her twin. "Once they get the taste of blood in their mouth it's too late. "

It was Avril's turn to snort.

"You know I'm right." She said. "You all have your little crusades, your ways of championing nature. Most of you are harmless enough. You do your own thing, live in your own reality and save the planet, the whales and family values."

"Vett!" Alex admonished.

"But once one of you gets into that mindset that you have to right the wrongs and champion poor put upon Mother Nature by whatever means necessary, even if it means breaking the so called balance of nature a little more in the process, it's too late." Yvette insisted.

Avril sighed. "I would love to argue with you but I can't. But if we are going to defeat her, we need to take down her power base. I agree. "

"Three of us after one little witch?" Yvette laughed. "Really ? Are you that out of practice?"

"Did I forget to mention there were a hundred of them in that house, and that they seem to be more than happy to funnel themselves through one little girl?"

"Okay, a hundred to three doesn't sound so much like over kill." Yvette said smiling. "It's been a long time since we've worked together. "

"You were with Damon then too weren't you?" Avril asked, looking over at her sister.

"Yes. Although I don't know that you could really say we were a couple then." Alex said.

"You were coupling enough to make up for any lack of real romance then." Yvette said rolling her eyes.

Alexandra blushed.

* * *

Damon opened the wooden box and placed the disk inside. He covered it with rowan and then closed and locked it. He placed it in an oil skin bag with willow leaves. This he tied tightly before getting out of the car, carrying that and a cardboard box with him.

He hadn't been back to Veritas proper since returning to Mystic Falls. The section of land with the mill house was as close as he had gotten. He felt guilty about that but put it aside as he hiked through the over grown brush eventually coming to one of the many mausoleums that dotted the country side.

He looked at the ground at the base of the structure and saw that it was covered in vervain. "Really Dad? You planted vervain around Mom's grave? Nice." He said stepping over it and walking inside. If he hadn't been taking a daily regimen of Vervain amongs other things, the sheer volume of the stuff would be hard to walk past. "You're a real bastard you know that?" Damon was certain if there was a way for his father to be hovering around in the afterlife he would be.

He went down the steps to the graves below. "I know. It's been too long." He said standing at his mother's sarcophagus. He traced the lines of the intricate sculptures on the surface. "And I didn't come just for a visit, so if you're here instead of passed on, I'm sorry. " He pushed the lid to the side at a pivot point and frowned. "Willow… " He said looking at the long thin tendrils from a weeping willow that draped the coffin within. "What the hell… " He said and shook it off. He placed the oil cloth bag within. "Yeah I know, language. Sorry Mother. " He said and then took the flowers from the box and scattered them within. The aged willow nearly covered with white flowers. Jasmine, gardenia and magnolias.

He closed the sarcophagus once more, and began to wipe down the surface. "He shouldn't have put you here. You should be in the cemetery with the rest of the family." Damon said. "Not here to be neglected. You deserve better. I'll be back to clean things up later. I'll take care of you now. "

Damon left, and Alaric frowned "Now that's odd." He said stepping closer to look over the sarcophagus. "That's very odd."


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter twenty three**

Avril and Yvette looked at the house. It didn't look very ominous. It didn't feel precisely ominous. It was just a house after all. They walked around the outside; looking it over, inspecting it for things that Alex had no clue about. But they walked; keeping pace with one another, lock stepped and synchronized in movements, around the house three times in an ever widening spiral before coming to a halt in front of Damon and Alexandra.

"Just the other side of that oak is where we will want to start the circle." Avril said. "It's as far out as I can feel the power emanating. It's where their passive boundary lies."

"They are restless, sister. Can you feel it?" Yvette asked Alexandra who nodded. "Why don't we take the boys inside and begin?"

"We should wait until the sun sets." She said. "Emily Bennett likes to turn off Damon's ring."

"Does she?" Yvette said, black eyes narrowing. "I think that is even more reason to bring him along and put a stop to that nonsense once and for all."

"Gee, didn't know you cared." Damon said, unable to contain the sarcasm.

"I don't. But Alexandra does. Besides, it's a witch who doesn't know her place; she's in my domain now." Yvette said with a smile that reminded Damon for all the world of the Grinch. If a serpent could curl its lips, it would look like Yvette Sauveterre.

Alexandra looked his way, if there was any trepidation she would say no, but he shrugged, and said he was game. "Okay. Let's see how riled up we can get them." She knew the wooden bangles on her sisters wrists were made of Rowan wood. Not that they could cast magic from the other side. Not without a vessel. There was no sign of Bonnie Bennett. But she still looked to make sure she was wearing them before turning to lead the way back to the house.

They entered the house and the atmosphere immediately changed. It was cold outside, as March was giving up its final days, but it was colder still inside the house. The hair on the back of Alexandra's neck tickled and rose as if electrified.

"Stop that." Yvette said and even though spoken quietly, her words echoed through the house. The oppressive feeling lifted.

Damon rubbed his hands on his pants, and kept walking, carefully avoiding patches of sunlight.

"No." Yvette said looking over her shoulder at him. "Walk through it, Vampire." She said in a commanding tone.

"He's not yours to command." Alex said sharply.

"I keep forgetting how possessive you are." Yvette said rolling her eyes."Or is it that you think I'm being rude to your pet."

"Both." Alex answered.

"God you have gone so soft." Yvette said. "I have my reasons. Do as you're told, Damon." She emphasized his name, as though the word Vampire had been what Alex had found bothersome.

Damon frowned but had an idea as to what she wanted. He stepped into the sunlight then quickly through to the other side as he felt the heat scorch his flesh. "See, she's not impressed." But she was there and that was what Yvette had wanted to insure.

"You brought the fetter?" Yvette asked and smiled as her sister produced the simple heart shaped pendant. "Good." Again that smile that gave Damon the cold horrors. She held out her hand and Henry produced a coffin nail and a small hammer. She found the centermost point of the house and drove a nail through the heart into the floor. "That should keep her in place."

Alexandra closed the front door, and hammered a coffin nail above it. "Stay clear of the windows. We'll take care of those." She told Damon. "Find any other openings and cover those."

He nodded and headed down to the basement to take care of those he had seen below. Henry and Avril went through the house hammering nails into window sills and above the fireplaces.

Alexandra and Yvette stood in the center of the house and clasped hands and began to chant in unison, holding the spirits within the house while the exits were locked with coffin nails.

Damon struggled to make it up the stairs under the weight of their combined energies. He was undead and nearly as susceptible to it as the ghosts they were binding in place. He forced himself upright and went to take his place behind Alexandra.

* * *

"Okay, so you're looking at getting married in June. As in this June, less than four months away, June." Bonnie said shaking her head "And you haven't even picked out your wedding dress?"

"Yeah I know. I should put it off a little but I have to try. If it doesn't seem to be coming together in a couple months I'll put it off until next year. Maybe Valentine's day since he proposed to me then." Elena said smiling.

"If anyone can put together a June wedding in three months it's us." Caroline said. "I'm an expert at event planning. Maybe that's what I should do… professionally I mean. I have to support myself somehow."

"That sounds like a great idea." Bonnie said sincerely. "I think you'd be great at it." She winced, rubbing at her forehead.

"And you'll love it." Elena said. She frowned then, "Bonnie, are you alright?" She asked worriedly, giving Caroline a knowing glance. It was started.

"I ahm, yeah, I'm okay, Just a little dizzy." She said, shaking her head again, and then straightening. "What's going on?" Bonnie asked looking between the girls. "There is something going on I can feel it. What are they doing at the house?" She started for the door but Caroline moved quickly in the way.

"It's for your own good, Bonnie. You have to believe us. " Elena said, coming up behind her.

"You're a part of it? After everything I have done for you, sacrificed for you, this is how you pay me back?" Bonnie yelled. She concentrated and put her hands up directed at both girls, and her eyes widened. "You know about the Rowan…" Her eyes were wild and manic looking.

She began to chant closing her eyes. The room was filled with a whirlwind. It ripped apart the bridal magazines, sending a flurry of sharp edged paper into the air, whipping faster and faster with Bonnie at the eye of the storm.

Caroline and Elena brought their hands up to protect their eyes. "Bonnie, stop it!" Caroline yelled above the wind. "We're not letting you leave here no matter what. We love you. You have to be free of that place. ."

The whirl wind was a buzz saw of sharp edges now, as it cut through fabric and the seemingly delicate flesh of the two vampires.

* * *

Damon didn't wait to be asked; he slid his hands beneath her sweater, resting them on her waist. He stood close behind her allowing her to brace against him, saving even more of her reserves. The connection with her eased the oppressive weight that had threatened to lay him flat to the floor.

He was blown away by the surge of energy that flowed around and through them. The sisters were feeding each other and drawing power from the very spirits they were binding into place. When it was done it was immediately gone and he stumbled backwards.

"Easy baby." Alex said smiling, still vibrating from the surge herself. "Let get out of here. We're only half done." She said.

"You spoil him too much, you know that don't you?" Yvette said laughing as they all walked outside.

"Every chance I get." Alexandra admitted. "Do you think they can keep the witch contained while we do this?" She asked Damon.

"Don't know. If not we'll find out soon enough. " Damon said and nodded to his brother who had just arrived with Matt and a truck load of salt. He clasped Henry on the shoulder. "Come on, let's get this done."

Henry looked to Yvette who nodded. The vampire followed Damon over to the truck.

"Guys, Henry, Henry, Guys." Damon said as he pulled a bag of rock salt from the truck. "They want us to start just the far side of that oak over there. "

"Hi" Matt said to Henry handing him a bag of rock salt, the vampire gave a hint of a brief smile and nodded before taking the bag and going over to the tree to begin spreading the salt.

"Is he okay?" Stefan asked.

"Henry doesn't talk much." Damon said. " Which is to say not at all without express permission from Yvette. He mouthed off once about a hundred years ago. She's not a forgiving girl. So next time someone tells you that I'm a thrall…remember Henry. Until I look like that, butt out." He said pointedly and carried the bag toward the tree. "Let's get a move on, no telling how long they can keep Bonnie out of it."

* * *

Jeremy ran for the house. He'd been late getting out of the Grill. With no one else in the house working he couldn't afford to lose his job and he figured that Caroline and Elena could handle Bonnie for a little while longer on their own.

He hurried up the walk and up to the front door. He could hear the sound of rushing wind inside the house and the girls yelling from the kitchen. He dropped his pack and rushed into the room just in time to see one of the dining room chairs crash into the brick wall. It shattered into pieces and the pieces flew toward the girls.

"Bonnie no!" he yelled and dove for his sister, shoving Elena out of the way of the debris. His face was quickly lacerated by the paper as he righted himself and moved toward Bonnie, it carved away pieces of his shirt, cut into his jeans and the flesh beneath. "You have to stop. " He said coming closer still until he held her face in his hands.

"Jeremy?" she said. "Why are they doing this? Why?" She asked breathlessly.

"To save you." He said. His back arched and he gave a strangled cry of pain. Jeremy stumbled back looking at Bonnie in shock before dropping to the ground.

"No!" Bonnie cried. The spells were forgotten and it all seemed to fall to the ground in slow motion, fluttering to a stop as Jeremy curled around himself, a piece of mahogany protruding from his side. "Jeremy!"

Elena moved to her brother's side, shoving Bonnie back away from him. "Jer? Come on, tell me you're wearing the ring, "She said looking over both of his hands.

He shook his head "Ric said it was dangerous… "

"No no no no no. Jeremy no." Elena said gingerly examining the wood. "If I take it out it might kill you." She said and looked around frantically. "Okay … okay." She said and let her fangs grow, biting her wrist. "Drink this… you'll be okay so long as you drink." She moved her wrist over his mouth but he grabbed her arm and shook his head.

"What?" She asked. "Jeremy don't do this to me you have to drink."

"No." He said again and groaned as a spasm rocked his body.

Caroline wasted no time arguing. She called 911 for an ambulance. She had no idea how they were going to explain it but that wasn't the biggest of her concerns.

"I am so sorry, Jeremy. Please oh god Jeremy." Bonnie said moving closer to him once more.

Elena glared at her, and punched her in the face. Her best friend fell to the ground unconscious. "Get her to Stefan's."

Caroline nodded. "I'll get her locked up and meet you at the hospital." She said picking Bonnie up. "I'll get there as soon as I can." She told her.

Elena nodded as she pulled Jeremy's head into her lap. "You can't leave me." She told her brother.

"Gonna happen eventually." He said raggedly. "I don't want to be a vampire. " Jeremy told her. "Don't let anyone give me blood."

"I won't " She said. "I'll take care of you, I promise. " Elena curled around him protectively as he drifted into unconsciousness. "Just don't leave me… don't leave me."

* * *

The vampires worked at super human speed to lay the salt line around the perimeter of the house. Alexandra and Yvette walked the line, one on either side each adding something different to the line while Avril knelt at the base of the tree, mixing herbs and resins into a brazier.

As the women rejoined each other, Matt whispered to Stefan "This would be a bad time to quote MacBeth wouldn't it."

Stefan chuckled. "When shall we three meet again-" He added unable to resist. "In thunder, Lightning or in rain."

"When the hurleyburley's done, when the battles lost and won." Matt said grinning at Stefan. "If Mr. Hamilton could hear us now."

"You read? Who knew?" Damon teased back, grinning at the kid.

Matt rolled his eyes, and shook his head, "Dick" he said even as he grinned back at Damon. "Big dumb Jocks still have to pass senior English."

"When you have time I have a project for you. I need some Vervain dug up." Damon said quietly.

"Sure."

"Vervain?" Stefan asked.

"Its surrounding Mom's grave." Damon said. He was surprised Stefan hadn't seen it. He'd been on the property that weekend showing Elena around. He would have thought that would be one of the important places to show her, but then Stefan hadn't known their mother as well as Damon had. He hadn't known her when she'd been strong and vibrant and beautiful. She'd gotten sick the first time just a few years after his birth.

Avril began to chant in earnest and the vampires fell silent. Alexandra and Yvette stood on the opposite sides of her intoning the words of their own rite. Stefan thought the two different types of magic combined sounded like music . He closed his eyes and listened, feeling more than hearing the chords and dissonances as Alexandra and Yvette began to sing around Avril's chant.

He didn't notice that his eyes darkened, flesh paled with visible veins. He didn't feel his teeth elongate or even notice that he had taken a step toward them.

Henry and Damon exchanged a wide eyed glance and each one grabbed Stefan by an arm and pulled him away from the site just as Avril poured the contents of the brazier onto the dense salt line.

Flames spread along the circle quickly, and when the circle was completed they raised high into the air, scorching the branches of the oak until nothing on the inside of the line remained. Then the flames extinguished leaving no sign that there had ever been a line.

"Easy, Brother." Damon said, keeping a hand on Stefan's chest. "No necromancy for you." He told him. "You like the feel too much. Must be all that pesky guilt looking for punishment." There was definitely no inviting Stefan along to play in Alex's necromancer games. He'd wind up addicted from the side lines. Leave it to Stefan to have a reaction of one extreme or the other.

"I'm okay." He said breathing deeply. "I'm okay." Stefan was having a hard time shaking the feeling. It had been intoxicating somewhere between agony and ecstasy and he definitely wanted to feel it again. He frowned as his cell phone went off. "Hello?" He said swallowing hard. "…I'm on my way. … He's going to be okay. …I'll be right there." Stefan said again and hung up. " Jeremy is in the hospital. Apparently Bonnie reacted violently and he took a stake to the side. "

"She gave him blood right?" Damon asked.

Stefan shook his head. "He doesn't want it."

"To hell with what he wants. Feed the kid. He'll survive we'll make sure he doesn't croak in the next 24 hours it'll be fine." Damon said.

"I'll talk to her about it. I'm out of here." Stefan said.

"Yeah, you go, I'll catch up when we're through with clean up here." Damon said and Stefan was gone from sight instantly. "You too." He told Matt.

Stefan arrived shortly after Caroline and found Elena in the surgical waiting room. "Any word?" He asked.

Elena shook her head as she went to him, wrapped her arms around him and cried into his chest. "They say his chances are good if the stake missed his intestines… if he'd been wearing the ring he'd be alright. I can't believe Bonnie hurt him. She tried to kill me and hurt him instead. "

Stefan looked at Caroline.

"Elena knocked her out. I took her to the cell at your place. Figured we could sort it out later. She was crazed, Stefan. I have never seen anyone like that before." Caroline closed her arms around herself as she began to pace. "I think Damon is right about her."

"We'll find out tomorrow. Let's just worry about Jeremy tonight." Stefan said as he gently rocked Elena in his arms.

Caroline nodded looked up as Matt rushed into the room as well. "Damon and Alex are on their way." He said going to take a seat beside Caroline. He slid his arm around her shoulders and pulled her to him. "He'll be okay."

Caroline wasn't so sure. They had all lost so many people in so short a time that she didn't believe that anyone would simply be okay. She could tell just by looking in Elena's eyes that she felt the same way.

The clock seemed to be moving in slow motion, and it seemed an eternity had passed before Damon and Alexandra arrived. "Any word?" He asked and again Elena shook her head. "When he gets out of surgery I'll make sure he's okay. " He told her.

She shook her head. "He doesn't want that."

"Then I'll make him forget. It will heal him and we'll baby sit him so that we don't have a repeat of what happened to you or Caroline." Damon said earnestly.

"I promised him, Damon. I promised him I wouldn't let anyone give him blood." Elena said beginning to cry again.

"I didn't promise anyone anything, and you can't stop me. Give me a sign that's what you want and I'll do it. You can blame it all on me. I can take it. " She couldn't lose anyone else. She'd fly apart at the seams. It would be hard enough as a human but she didn't have the hang of her vampire emotions yet. It would tear her apart.

She shook her head no. "I promised."

"God, Elena…"

Alex could hear it in Damon's voice, the way that he desperately sought to ease the girl's pain, even knowing it could make him an outcast amongs them. The way he looked at her, the way he touched her. The way her tears seemed to tear at him like vervain and vitriol. He still loved her. She felt someone's eyes on her and looked up. It was Stefan. The sympathy in those green eyes was almost too much to bear.

Alex resisted the urge to reach out and touch Damon as he stood at their side and gently stroked the dark tresses of the girl in his brother's arms. How much further could she claim him after all and not become her sister? He wasn't her possession. He wasn't her territory. He was a man and as always a man in love with someone else. In spite of being her thrall Damon Salvatore was still in love with Elena Gilbert.

This was why she was here. This was why he was desperate to keep the bond. This and nothing more. The question was which would win, her love for her friend or her self-respect and pride?

"I'm going to go get a cup of coffee. Anyone else want one?" She offered, needing to get away from this even if just for a moment.

"Yeah." Matt said, quietly. Coffee sounds good."


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter twenty four**

Jeremy looked down at his body. What little he could see of it, with the tubes and wires and bandages. A complication in surgery they had said and now he was staring down at himself wondering if he was supposed to force his way back inside or just leave and go into the metaphorical light. Not that he saw any light other than the florescent bulbs that flickered over head.

"It's not time for you to go." Tyler said. "Trust me. "

Jeremy smiled "You have no idea how many people have been looking for you. "

"Oh believe me I know. I've been dodging most of them, which is why I couldn't get through to you when you were awake. That and I'm not really dead. Well okay I am." He said laughing a little "but I'm not a ghost."

"Yeah, we know. Damon saw it. Not while it was happening, but long story. We know that Klaus is in your body. How did that happen anyway?"

"My mom and Mrs. Forbes called me and Caroline. She told us that Saltzman had outed us to the counsel. They'd come up with money and fake IDs for us to run. We'd gone to pack a few things, Caroline was going to help you guys as much as she could first, and then I got this call from Bonnie. She said she had something to give us to help protect us from detection. So I went over to her house. Next thing I know I can't move and she starts mumbling in this weird language I don't understand. " Tyler told him. "She pressed this thing against my chest and it looked like she was unlocking it and suddenly I'm fighting with Klaus and man even without a body he was kicking my ass. I was in that thing for a second and I could see the key hole and I bolted before she could lock it down again. "

"You're sure it was Bonnie and not Emily Bennett possessing her?" Jeremy asked.

"Dude, she put you in the hospital. Wise up. "Tyler said. "We gotta get you back in your body. As much as I'd enjoy the company I need your help getting back in my own head as soon as possible. He's got it bad for Caroline and as long as he's out there she isn't safe."

* * *

Alexandra slipped out of the bedroom where Damon lay sleeping, albeit fitfully. "What is it?" She asked Alaric in a whisper.

"Damon's taken the disk and hidden it." He said. "I'm not sure if that's something to worry about. We all have a healthy case of paranoia around here in case you haven't noticed, especially with Klaus and Katherine both presumably in town. What was odd was where he put it."

Alex looked at him quizzically.

"He took it out to his mother's grave. She's the only one in the Mausoleum. It was built for her alone."

She nodded "I've seen the graves of the rest of his family, including the places that had been reserved for him and Stefan. " Cold and empty holes in the earth created to keep the illusion of them both being truly dead.

"Yeah, well the sarcophagus Lid is carved with a strange scene for a roman catholic. " The family being Italian after all. "It's a night scene. Full moon, Willow tree, a woman in a hooded cloak with a wolf at her feet and an owl on her shoulder"

"Hecate." She said. "Not uncommon motif for the dead. Unusual for the time and their faith but not unheard of." Alexandra had seen more than her fair share of crypts, sarcophagi and grave stones.

"Do they also fill the sarcophagus to the brim with Willow branches?" He asked.

"Now that is odd." She said nodding. "How did he react?"

"He thought it was odd but he was more concerned with the condition of the place and that she had been neglected all these years. "Alaric said.

"And this is where he put the disk?"

He nodded.

"He's going into the hospital at some point tonight. " She said looking at the clock, "When he does I want you to show me this place. I want to take a look at the rest of the symbology."

Alaric nodded. "What makes you so sure he's going to the hospital?"

"Because he's Damon, and he hasn't done anything self destructive and certain to annoy everyone in days," She pointed out.

"Good point." He said, fading from sight.

Alex slipped back into bed and nestled in close to Damon resting her head on his chest. Unlike him she needed sleep, even if it was just a nap.

* * *

Avril pulled a chair into the cell and took a seat. "We need to talk, girl." She said folding her hands primly in her lap.

"I have nothing to say to you." Bonnie told her. "You've betrayed your own kind to help vampires and necromancers. You may as well be one of them."

"No. I have helped prevent the dead from interfering with the living. Surely you know that extended contact is unnatural. The living are not intended to become the vessels of the dead." Avril said watching the girl pace. She could see the mania that the vampiress had described.

"I wasn't their vessel. They were guiding me. Teaching me." Bonnie snapped.

"Is that why you created a vampire?" She asked. "Because these dead servants of nature bade you do so? And that was sufficient reason for you?"

Bonnie glared at her. "They were trying to restore balance by destroying the vampires." Even though she hadn't been able to allow a certain line to fall.

"And that restores balance how?" Avril asked.

"Vampires are unnatural. Walking dead that feeds on human blood. You can't tell me that's natural."

"Evolution is completely natural." Avril said.

"Its not evolution, its magical manipulation." Bonnie practically yelled.

"Ah, so magical manipulation is unnatural?" She asked.

"That's not what I said."

"Isn't it? When we manipulate a plant in our garden to make it more capable of survival we don't think twice about it. Because it's ensuring survival. That was what was done to create vampires. Ensuring survival against the werewolves. Not merely for themselves but ultimately humanity as a whole. "

"Who's to say the wolves weren't there to keep humanity in check?" Bonnie asked, folding her arms across her chest.

"No one." Avril said. "Nature evolves on her own as well as with assistance from various sources. Once it's evolved there is no going back. Vampires will not be unmade, but that's not what you are worried about. There is no concern for the balance of nature."

Bonnie frowned.

"You are worried about your own sphere of influence, your family, your friends, and your power base." Avril said. "You would do whatever you needed to do to protect them."

"And thanks to you I can't do that anymore."

"You are the one they currently need protection from." Avril said. "You tried to kill three of them. It is possible you will have succeeded with one. The boy. "

"You're lying. They would have given him blood. He's healed. Jeremy is fine." Bonnie insisted.

"He refused, made his sister promise not to let anyone give it to him. He was not wearing his enchanted ring because of what your dead friends did to his guardian each time he died. "

"no!" Bonnie yelled. "Jeremy is fine."

"There is always a risk with any surgery. The human body is fragile. Any time one is put under anesthesia there is the risk that they will not wake up. Jeremy has not wakened."

"No no no you're lying." Bonnie insisted. "You're lying."

"I have no need to lie, child." Avril said.

"Why are you here?" She asked. Her pacing became more agitated, her arms held tightly around herself.

"To determine if you are the threat or if the threat has been eliminated by neutralizing the hot spot." Avril said honestly.

"Everything was fine before your sister arrived. If anyone is a threat around here it's Alexandra. They warned me about her."

"Hmm… yes. A group of ghosts who happen to have been witches in their mortal life believe that a necromancer is a threat. " She chuckled softly. "These are the same ghosts that drove you to force a man to transition into a vampire."

"To destroy all vampires." She pointed out. "He was tied to Elena's mortal life. There would have been no vampires but him in a short time and then he would be gone in less than a century."

"Don't you call some of these vampires friend?"

"You know what, I'm done. Just get out of here." She said going to sit on the bunk.

"You honestly don't see it." Avril said sadly.

Bonnie glared at her then turned her head away, ignoring her entirely.

* * *

Damon moved quietly through the dimmed halls of the hospital. They were sparsely populated at three in the morning. Those who saw him with a little encouragement quickly forgot, and went about their business as though he didn't exist. He slipped into Jeremy's hospital room and looked the boy over and sighed.

"Why did you have to make her promise?" He asked knowing there would be no answer. "Things would be so much simpler if I could just slip you a little blood and let nature take its course. " he grumbled. "No you made it so I had to go and break into your room" he said pulling the ring from his pocket and placing it on the boy's finger. "And figure out where you've been hiding this."

"What are you doing?" Jeremy asked, but Damon couldn't hear him without being tied into a spell or actively connected to Alex. "Damon, you jerk, no."

"Sorry kid, I really am. Here's hoping I'm not bringing back a monster." He said and snapped the boy's neck and pulled the chair over to his bedside to sit and wait.

"What is it with you and neck's?" Jeremy asked, as he faded.

Damon frowned watching the boy for signs of life, looking at the clock impatiently, then back at the boy. Five minutes passed, and he grew nervous, ten and he became worried. By the end of fifteen he was up and pacing, sure he'd made a mistake and resigned himself to a bitter war with Elena when he heard a choking sound from the bed.

He pressed the call button and grabbed Jeremy's hands to keep him from pulling the tubes from his own throat. "Hang in there kid, they're coming. " He said slipping the ring off and pocketing it before the nurse arrived.

"What are you doing in here?" She asked pushing him aside to look at her patient.

"I'm not." He told her, compelling her to forget that she'd seen him, and he disappeared back the way he had come.

* * *

"Wow he wasn't kidding about the vervain." Alexandra said as she stepped over the plant to get into the mausoleum. "And what's with all the mausoleums around here?"

"I wondered the same thing. Honestly I think that's all because the neighboring families wanted to keep up with Giuseppe Salvatore. They started construction on this a full five years before she died. He imported marble and travertine, commissioned the sculptures ahead of time. "

"How did you find that out?" She asked.

"It's amazing what a ghost can influence people to do, particularly if they are into books and history in the first place." Alaric said with an almost impish grin.

"Nice. " She said shaking her head and laughing softly. "So she had some sort of lingering sickness. What was her name?"

"Madelena," Ric said, "Madelena Andreassi. Apparently she was supposed to marry his older brother. They eloped and hopped on the first boat to the US after some sort of duel. "

"I'd say that was romantic but it's really not." She said, having watched it vicariously over the years with Damon even though he didn't have the joy of having been able to fulfill his love with either woman. "Although I suspect they thought so at the time. " Alexandra frowned. "Andreassi… that name is familiar. Hmm." She said as she went to the lower level.

The mausoleum looked as though it had once been exquisite. It was well made and with a little care it could be exquisite again. She set the lantern in the corner of the room and took out her camera to photograph the inscriptions and reliefs.

"I can't feel anything here." She said as she worked. "It must be the Willow in the sarcophagus. Even when a spirit has passed on I can get a sense of their earthly remains." She said. "A lot of these are protective symbols. Giuseppe went through a lot of trouble to get things precisely right. Their mother died before the vampire invasion of the town so he had to have known about things before then. "

"I remember the boys saying that their father would take his secrets to the grave. Maybe it wasn't just his he was talking about."

"I'm not going to be able to be the one to find out. Not by investigating the sarcophagus anyway. It may be nothing more than a man with a little knowledge trying to protect the woman he loved in death. But why did Damon bring the disk here? It was safer from Katherine at our house. Maybe who I should be speaking to is Katherine. "

"I don't know. Madelena died when Damon was sixteen and Stefan was twelve. That was several years before Katherine's arrival in 1864."

"I need to head back to the house before Damon gets back. " She said shutting down her camera. "I will show these to my sister. See if you can get your history buff friend to research the name Andreassi. The more obscure and fringe sounding the reference the better.

* * *

Avril poured a cup of coffee in Stefan's kitchen and leaned against the counter to drink it. She was tired. The previous day had been exhausting and now the girl wasn't helping. She smiled as Stefan entered the room.

"How is she?" He asked getting his own cup. Stefan liked Avril. She had a quiet soothing presence.

"She's angry. " Avril said. "And honestly I don't think she understands what all has been happening. She knows what she's been doing but she doesn't understand the ramifications or that she's been manipulated maliciously. Every challenge is met with more parroting of the dead witch Doctrine."

Stefan sighed. "I was afraid of that. What do we do?"

"I don't know." Avril said honestly. "She needs help. She needs proper training but there is too much to undo to make things right again. Another day and the vervain will be out of her system. I think perhaps you or Damon should compel her to forget about the so called Witch House and its influence. Maybe then things will right themselves on their own."

"Or she'll be worse than she was in the beginning." Stefan said with a sigh. "I'll give it some thought. At the very least we can make it so that she can't hurt anyone else magically again."

"Good. " She said. "Is there any news on the boy?"

"Not yet. He's alive but to be honest if he wakes up again it will be a miracle." Stefan said finishing his coffee and putting the cup in the drain. "There's quite a few bedrooms here. I'm only using one. If you want you can go catch a nap in one of them. It's just a couple hours till dawn and you look dead on your feet. "

"Thank you. I think I will." She said putting her own cup in the sink and disappearing up the back stairs.

Stefan sighed tiredly and ran a hand through his hair.

Elena appeared in the doorway fully clothed. "The hospital called. Jeremy is awake." She said. "And apparently has made a miraculous recovery."

"Damon." Stefan said.

"Damon." She repeated. "With any luck Jeremy won't remember and Alex won't flunk me out of French after I kill your brother."

"Death is a little harsh for saving Jeremy's life don't you think? Maybe we should just torture him a little instead." He said grabbing his keys and heading for the door.

"I don't know. Seems like everyone is doing it these days. I hate to be part of a fad."

* * *

Damon found the lights on when he got home. "Hey." He said walking inside. "I didn't wake you when I left did I?" He asked.

"I wasn't asleep." She answered honestly. "So how is Jeremy and am I going to have to fend off Elena?"

"Jeremy is awake." Damon said. "I didn't break her promise so she shouldn't be too angry. If they haven't called with an update, how did you know where I'd gone? Maybe I had gone off slumming with Katherine."

"Nope, didn't even cross my mind." She said watching him go to pour a glass of whiskey. "I expect we'll be getting a call soon enough. No point in going back to bed." She took a seat on the sofa. "So if you didn't give him blood what did you do?"

Damon came to sit beside her. "This." He said pulling the ring from his pocket. "There used to be two of these, they were Gilbert family artifacts. This will bring a non supernatural being back to life if they are killed by supernatural means. So I put it on his finger and broke his neck. "

Alexandra shook her head, then took it from his hand and looked it over. "What happened to the other one?"

"Esther melted it and coated the white oak stake with it so that it won't burn up and disappear when it's used on an original." He took a long drink off his whiskey.

Alexandra turned it over in her hands. "This isn't witch make… this was created by a necromancer, a really powerful one. I don't think even Timon could do this sort of work. "She said frowning. "Damon… were there necromancers in Mystic Falls back then?"

"Hmm… I don't know. Katherine didn't mention anything about them. Then again there was a lot that Katherine wasn't mentioning back in the day. Maybe we should find her and pay her a visit sometime soon." Damon said.


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter twenty five**

Elena rushed into Jeremy's room and wrapped her arms around him pulling him close. "I'm so sorry he did that to you, but I am so glad you are awake." She said burying her face in his shoulder. "I thought I was gonna lose you."

Stefan took the cup of water from his hand so that Jeremy could hug Elena back.

"He didn't give me blood." Jeremy said.

"You wouldn't know. He'd have made you forget." Elena said. "He wasn't thinking about what you wanted, he was just thinking about keeping you around."

"Elena, he didn't give me blood. I know. I was around" He said gesturing to the room in general. "Out of body. He stole my ring from the house, put it on me and broke my neck. It's okay. I'm okay with it. I was pretty pissed but he wasn't here after the nurse showed up so I got over it. I have things I have to tell you anyway."

Not that he wanted to. He didn't want to believe it at all but Tyler had no reason to lie.

"okay." Elena said sitting on the side of the bed.

Stefan pulled the chair closer to the bed.

"While I was having my out of body experience, which is beyond weird to begin with, Tyler was here. "

"Physically here?" Stefan asked, brows knitting together.

Jeremy shook his head. "Nah, the real Tyler. He told me what went down that day. " He looked down at his hands. "Bonnie did it. She switched him and Klaus. No one  
was possessing her or making her do it. She's working with Klaus. I don't understand it but it's true."

Elena looked stricken.

"I'll be right back." Stefan said and stepped from the room. The first call he made was to the house but he got no answer. There weren't phones in the bedrooms since the advent of cell phones and he didn't have Avril's cell number. His next call was to his brother. "Damon."

"Look if Elena's hot under the collar I didn't break her promise for her." Damon said before Stefan could get anything else out.

"We know. Jeremy was there even if not in his body. He talked to Tyler, "Stefan said quickly. "you were completely right about Bonnie. She switched Tyler out with Klaus. She's working for him."

Damon started to speak but was interrupted.

"She's at the house in the cell down stairs. Avril is there sleeping in one of the guest rooms. If Klaus figures out Bonnie's been taken down…"

"He'll know where we'd take her. I'm on it." Damon said hanging up. "We need to get moving. The high school contingency has discovered we were right about Bonnie and she's working for Klaus." He said grabbing Alex by the arm to speed things along while he talked. "Apparently Avril is over at Stefan's sleeping it off."

"Where the hybrid sponsored witch is being kept." She said and picked up the pace running to the car. "You can get there much faster without me. I'll catch up. Go."

The door was standing open when he got there and Damon entered cautiously. He picked up a broken piece of wood from an entry way table. "I just replaced that." He muttered.

He followed the debris through the house to the door to the cellar stairs. He took each step cautiously ever vigilant of his surroundings. His probable opponent was a hybrid that could just about kill him with a harsh look. One near death experience with a werewolf bite was more than enough for one lifetime no matter how long it was.

Avril lay in a heap at the base of the stairs and he leaped to the floor below. He knelt beside her and reached to feel for a pulse and pulled back a bloody hand. "Damn it." He whispered, and a cursory glance around him showed no one else in the room.

"Sorry about this but Alex would never forgive me if she lost you." He said as he opened the vein at his wrist and fed his blood to the barely conscious woman. "That's it. You'll be alright. "He told her as she drank. He had no doubt it was Klaus who had come for Bonnie. Nothing less than an original could get the drop on a witch as old as Avril. And none of the others would pick that fight right now. Elijah was too smart than to declare war on an entire family.

He picked her up and carried her up to the parlor and lay her on the sofa, covering her with the blanket he'd found there. Elena's no doubt. He called Alex, and laughed softly hearing her phone ring as she came up the front step. He hung up and looked to the door.

Alexandra spotted her sisters hair spilled over the arm of the sofa and rushed inside. She knelt beside the sofa and spotted the now healing hole in Avril's neck.

"She'll be alright" He said "I got to her in time." Too much longer and she would have bled out. Klaus hadn't been gentle. Was he using Rowan now? That wasn't common knowledge. Would Bonnie really share that much information?

"thank you." Alex said, turning her head to look up at him. "Thank you."

He reached out and stroked her hair gently, then called his brother. "I got here too late," Damon said. "Avril was attacked but she'll be alright."

"So now we have an angry witch out there with a very powerful hybrid and we can't do anything about it." Stefan said, and felt selfish for once again being relieved that Elena was now a vampire and no longer of any use to Klaus.

"Yeah. I think we need to start keeping watch on Caroline, and Jeremy. There's more that I haven't told you but I don't want to do it over the phone. Leave Elena to keep watch on the kid and meet me at your place."

"On my way." Stefan said and hung up. "Bonnie escaped." He told them. "I need you to stay here with Jeremy just in case. I'm going back to the house. Damon and I will see if we can't find her."

Elena nodded. "Be careful." She told him.

"Always." He said and leaned in to kiss her. "love you." He told her.

"Love you." She said back as he left the room.

He didn't bother with the car. He could get home faster without it. More information Damon had been keeping from them? He really hoped this was over now that he knew they were all free of Bonnie. He understood the secrecy but he didn't like it one bit.

He closed the front door as he walked in and spotted his brother coming down the stairs, a glass of wine in hand. "Where are the girls?"

"Resting in my old room. Avril's healing. Figures he'd attack the sister I like." Damon said.

"So can we please stop keeping secrets now?" Stefan asked.

Damon shrugged. "I'm working on it." He said. "The other night after we evicted Katherine, I went to see Elijah. Too much about this is out of sync and really bugging me." He told his brother about his conversation with the original and exactly why he was always so determined to keep the doppelganger alive as well as the fact that they had been willing to turn Jeremy and hand him over to Timon. "So now we have to keep an eye on medium boy before he winds up enthralled to someone less than friendly. "

Stefan nodded thoughtfully. "What was it like?" he asked "When you were bound to her?"

"Why would you want to know that? Damon asked frowning.

"If I hadn't met Henry I probably wouldn't be asking."

Damon sighed. " It was nothing like that, baby brother. You keep forgetting which one of us is older here, "he said.

"At our age do you really think four years matters that much?" Stefan laughed quietly. "Seriously, I want to know."

"It will always matter." Damon sat in the chair across from him. "Alexandra doesn't use much in the way of control. I was her first and as far as I know her only thrall. " He grinned a little. "She was mad because I tried to kill her. I don't think she knew what she wanted me for at first. So we don't have a normal relationship when it comes to that. I've been her body guard, I've been her partner in crime, we've been lovers and friends. I've never been abused in any way by her. I feel protective of her " He took a drink of his wine "When bound" He added not wanting Stefan to know he wasn't free. "There is an affection that isn't real but it doesn't feel real. It's like being compelled to love. If you've ever really been in love you know the difference. She comes first above anyone and anything else. And sometimes yes there are unbreakable rules. But they've always been things like don't go out and slaughter the locals where she's working. "

"So you're saying it's the difference between household slaves and the poor creatures that were forced to work the tobacco plantations." Stefan said.

"Are we on this again?" He asked. "No its not. It's the difference between an employee with an amazing benefits package and an unbreakable contract, and being kept prisoner by a sociopathic sadist." Damon said firmly, although his hand shook a little at the memory of Timon's brief control. "Let it go Stefan. I'm fine. I'm happy for once. "

"What do we do about Henry?" Stefan asked. "His eyes are so dead."

"We don't. I would if I thought it would actually help him but it won't." Damon told him. "One, if you go after him she'll use you to replace him. She's vindictive and doesn't have a forgiving bone in her body. Two, he wouldn't know how to exist outside of her world. He's been there too long to save. He'd been there a long time before we were ever turned. Let's just focus on keeping Jeremy human and necromancer free… other than Alex. " He frowned a moment. "When you were with Katherine back in the day, did she ever mention necromancers to you?"

Stefan shook his head "Why do you ask?"

"Because according to Sacha, the Gilbert rings aren't enchanted by witches. They were made by a very powerful necromancer. Which makes sense when you think about it, who else do you go to when you want to cheat death? "

Stefan nodded. "Guess we know what we're doing tomorrow. Time to go find out what Katherine knows. Alex said that disk was like one her father used in the past. If Katherine had it, you know she knows what it's for and who to keep it away from. "

"Or sell it to." Damon finished off his drink "So how mad is Elena?" He asked.

"Well, she was threatening to kill you when we got the phone call, but I talked her down to torture." Stefan said, dark eyes twinkling.

"What a brother." Damon said laughing. "Always at my back." Sometimes with a knife, he thought but still, he'd let him have his back again. Ultimately no matter what they were brothers.

"I try."

* * *

" We have to get to Bonnie's place." Jeremy said as he got out of bed and began to dress.

"What? No. Why?" Elena said "You're not going anywhere. Especially not to Bonnie's place."

"It'll be fine. Her father is still out of town until the weekend." He said, "And she has the item used to switch out Klaus and Tyler. We need to have that Item."

"Fine, I'll go. You stay here." Elena said and growled in frustration when he said no.

"Elena… you can't keep protecting me forever." He walked out the door, leaving her no choice but to follow.

"Jeremy, you were almost a vegetable for life." Elena said. "I had broccoli for a brother. There is no reason for you to be going too."

"That's exactly why I'm going." He said. "And I was never broccoli, maybe a tomato but never broccoli."

"Tomatoes aren't a vegetable."

"See, I was fine." He said with a grin.

"You have been spending way too much time around Damon." She said doing her best to scowl but she stopped arguing with him once they reached the parking lot.

The house was dark when they got there, and Jeremy hoped that was a good sign. He hoped that Bonnie left town and had no intention of coming back. She'd be safer that way, and so would his family. He honestly believed that she was still basically a good person but that things spiraled out of control because of the things she had to do on a regular basis to keep people safe. It didn't mean he could trust her. It just meant that he didn't want anything bad to happen to her.

'Growing up sucks' he thought as they broke into the house. He much preferred the black and white playground rules. I like this person therefore they can do no wrong made so much more sense than the realities of life. The fact that people who mean only good can wind up being so twisted by those good intentions, that it doesn't matter the lengths they have to go to achieve them.

He entered the bedroom and looked around at the stacks of books she had taken from the Martin's after they had both died. He wondered if Mr. Martin had twisted her somehow when he'd given her powers back, but he had to shut those thoughts from his mind. In the end it didn't matter. She'd betrayed them. Why ceased to be important when she had ripped Tyler out of his body and gave it to Klaus when there had to be so many other options out there. Including leaving him in whatever it was she'd used to rip him out of his body.

"Tyler said that there was a locking function to whatever it was. So we're looking for something she could carry around easily that Damon wouldn't think was odd if he saw it with a key hole somewhere. Tyler didn't get a good look at it. "

"Makes sense." Elena said. "I never would have thought she would know the spell to do something like that." She shook her head and began looking at the various trinkets around the room "It's my fault she's like this. If I'd never gotten her involved in the insanity that's my life-"

"No. It's not." Jeremy said. "You didn't compel her Elena. You didn't brain wash her or addict her to the power of that house. She did this to herself all on her own. "

"She was out there learning how to do all of this on her own, of course the lines are going to get blurry."

"I love her." Jeremy said. "Okay, not like a friend, not like someone that's just always been a part of my life. I love her like you love Stefan and Damon, and even I have to accept that she's responsible for her own actions." He told her, looking in the closet. "Where would she hide something that she didn't want someone like Klaus to get his hands on? Please don't say the witch house."

"I'm not in love with Damon." She protested. "And no she wouldn't hide anything there. The witches gave up the coffins with just a threat remember. It would be some place she could control which means it has to be here somewhere."

"Yes you are." He said laughing. "You're doing the right thing letting him move on but you are still very much in love."

She glared at her brother. "I'm marrying Stefan because I love Stefan."

"That wasn't my point." Jeremy said "Try and find something that you can't touch or that bites when you touch it."

"Oh good idea." She said starting to run her hand over everything. "So what was your point?"

"You respect him enough to not make excuses. When Damon screws up its all on Damon, not the devil made him do it. "

"That's not respect. That's just Damon." She said giving him a pointed look. "He screws up."

"Sure it is. You accept that he has a mind of his own and knows how to use it. You don't treat him like a victim because he tears someone apart out on a back road somewhere. You hold him accountable. Usually you forgive him, but you don't let him off by blaming everyone else around him. Bonnie isn't a victim either. She's had some crappy things happen in her life lately. So have you, so has Caroline. Matt hasn't thrown anyone under a bus because of the life he has to live. The only people that get a pass on their evil acts are Ric and Stefan because they actually were victims. " He told her. "The devil didn't make Bonnie do it, and even if he had, you haven't been the devil since I was twelve. "

"You saying I should forgive her one day? After what she did to you?" Elena asked. "you made the parallel." She said at the look he gave her.

"She didn't do anything to me. I got in the way. She was however trying to kill you and Caroline, so you have to deal with that and what she did to Tyler." He told her. "I guess that depends on the circumstances, but one day … yeah."

Elena sucked her breath in sharply. "That one. That book it's been coated in vervain" She said. "And it looks like she's glued willow leaves to the cover."

Jeremy picked it up and opened it."That's pretty funny cause Willow doesn't hurt Alex. It just blocks her powers." He opened it up and within was a smallish donut shaped disk with elaborate wire work around it culminating in an ornate lock in the center. "This is it." He said smiling. It was an attractive piece of jewelry when all was said and done. He also found the key and a folded piece of paper within.

"Let's get out of here before she decides to come back for it herself." Elena said.


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter twenty six**

Yvette entered the mausoleum on her sister's property and sighed into the cell phone. "I don't like this, Mother. It's not right."

"Stop fussing and find that bag." Julianna said firmly."You have no idea the amount of not right we'll be dealing with if you don't do what I tell you."

"Why are we still pursuing this? The woman is dead and in the grave. I fail to see where the obligation lies." Yvette said as she looked through her sister's workshop, wrinkling her nose periodically. "Do you realize that Alexandra gives that … thing… willow and angelica? He's a vampire, Mother. It's embarrassing the way they look at each other and … touch… in public."

"Yes well we have Katherine Pierce to thank for that amongst other things. At least we finally have the stone back, now we need the book. Keep looking for Timon's bag. "

Yvette made a face and stuck her tongue out at the phone. "Hang on." She said and put it on speaker and lay it down on the bench turned into a work table so that she could use both hands to move things around.

She found a bag and opened it but there were only her sister's tools. She remembered when they had made their own tools when their father had been teaching them. It seemed an eternity ago. She couldn't help but think that her father would never approve of any of this.

Yvette moved on around the room and peered into the cut outs for the caskets that her sister was using for storage "What have we here." She said pulling out a box from the back of the last site. She rifled through the loose things in the bottom as she walked back over to sit before the work bench. "I think I have it." She said taking out a black bag. "What do you need out of here?"

"Tell me what you see." Julianna said sharply.

Yvette stiffened and glared at the phone. There were days that her mother was very clearly a witch. She began to read off what she had found. Basic tools for augury, for containing spirits, for breaking the undead, various herbs and powders and tinctures. " And more of Damon's blood than I like to see, well except maybe spilled over the pavement. I'd like it then. "

"Don't be bitter, darling, it doesn't suit you."

"I'm not bitter. What do you need me to take out of here?" She didn't like taking from her sister. No matter the cause. Some things were sacred. Unfortunately her mother had gotten them into an arrangement that was not going to end well for any of them. Especially Alexandra.

"Hmmm… perhaps the word I am looking for is jealous." Julianna sighed. "Take the blood. All of it. Don't sigh at me. Just do it. " She then listed a few other items.

Yvette put the glass vials into her purse and pocketed the tools before putting the box back. "please tell me this is all you need ."

"For the rings that they want to work there are specific bones you will need. Lift the false bottom of the bag and you will find what you need for Alexandra's." Julianna said quietly. "For Damon's you will need to go digging."

"He had… " She said looking at the bone digits in the bottom of the bag. She thought for a moment she would be ill. "And you knew? You knew he had pieces of Papa with him and you still worked with him?"

"Pull yourself together, girl. This is not the time to go soft like your sister. " She hissed. "Now tonight, you need to dig up Giuseppe Salvatore. No one, and I do mean no one is to know where these bones came from, do you understand me child?"

"Yes, mother." She said, still disgusted by what she was hearing.

"Good, now go make sure nothing happens to your sisters between now and then. " She hung up.

"love you too, Mother." Yvette said and hung up. "About as much as root canal." She muttered as she put the room back as she had found it and exited the mausoleum.

* * *

Jeremy sat on the edge of the bed and looked hopefully at Avril. "Is it something that would work?"

She looked over the spell carefully and nodded. "It's fairly basic even if powerful." Avril said. "It would require having Tyler in the disk, and being able to contain Klaus while the spell is completed. But it's a viable spell."

Stefan sighed. "Which means luring Klaus out of hiding."

Damon grinned a little. "Well we have two things in this town that he might be interested in. Katherine and Caroline."

"He let Katherine go to bring you the cure for the wolf bite. He was through with her. "

"Really?" Damon said. "I think he was hoping she would head for the hills and leave me to die so that he could send you out after her in all that ripper glory. Besides, she's been working against him ever since then. It's got to be a lure. Besides, I don't really want Caroline anywhere near Klaus. She'll be too worried about hurting Tyler to protect herself."

"I think you are underestimating her." Alexandra said. "And the amount of anger she has that he is in that body to begin with. Tyler isn't in there and she knows how durable vampires are."

"Yeah well that one has teeth that can kill her with a love bite." Damon pointed out.

"And unfortunately there is no protection from that." Avril said.

"Still we can't just let him keep Tyler's body and go on about his mission of creating a hybrid army. " Elena said.

"We're not. That's why we're going to get Katherine to lure him out." Damon said. "What do you say, brother? Let s go pay a visit to the Ex."

Stefan nodded. "Let's go." He said leading the way out of the room. "Any idea where to find her?"

"Probably Isobel's so called safe house. " He said.

"The most expensive foreclosure in town."

Katherine poked her head out the door when Damon knocked. "Go away." She said and started to close the door, but the brothers pushed it open. "Seriously, go away. You hurt my feelings the other day and I want nothing to do with you."

"Sure you do." Damon said. "You love us." He purred as he walked past and into the living room.

Stefan merely smiled at her as he walked in and closed the door behind him. "Katherine." He said and followed his brother.

"Fine, what do you want?" She asked petulantly going back to her seat, picking up the book she was reading before Damon could snatch it out of the chair.

"There are some questions we have, about the good old days." Damon said sarcastically, looking at the title of the book she was holding. "That's a little high brow for you isn't it?" he asked. "The epic of Gilgamesh," He laughed.

"If you're going to be insulting you can leave."

"You were running things for the most part when you were in Mystic Falls with the rest of the tomb vampires." Stefan said.

"Yes… and no." She answered. "Pearl did the actual day to day controlling of the masses."

"You controlled Pearl." Stefan said.

"I prefer the word influenced."

"Which means you knew who all the major players in town were." Damon said.

"There were none." She said laughing. "That's why we came to Mystic Falls in the first place. There was this huge paranormal power vacuum waiting to be filled. "

"Thing is I don't remember there being anything supernatural in town before you got there." Damon said. "And power vacuums are created by something big leaving, not just something not being there to begin with."

"You were a child before I got here. You were practically a child when I left. " Katherine pointed out.

"Something Alexandra pointed out to me once. The children are where you find the signs. After all that's why you targeted a seventeen year old boy when you first arrived. " Damon told her. "They're easy marks, willing to believe things adults won't, willing to keep secrets because no one believes them anyway. You want to influence a town you influence the influential children"

"You learned that from her? I thought I taught you that." She said smiling.

"No, what you taught me is there is no such thing as the real thing." Damon said.

"You really are bitter."

"I prefer the word realistic." Damon said completely ignoring the concerned looks from his brother.

"There was a point in here somewhere I'm sure." Katherine said.

"No, we completely digressed. " Damon told her. "I want to know what was there before you were. What was there that we didn't see. "

"How should I know?" She asked.

"You know because you needed it to be gone before you arrived. " Stefan said. "You never do anything without a reason. You came to town for something. We think you found it and that's why you pulled the stunt that got all the other vampires entombed. Not to convince Klaus you were dead, but to cover up whatever it was you took. "

"Well sounds like you two know everything. There's nothing for me to say anything at all." Katherine said raising one delicately arched eyebrow.

"Sure there is. " Damon said. " For instance the details."

"No." She told him. "You don't need the details. It doesn't affect you." She got up and walked toward the kitchen. "I'm starving, you two want a bite… drink… what ever?" She called as she went.

The brothers looked at each other and sped for the kitchen.

Stefan leaned against the back door just as her hand touched the knob.

"Going somewhere?" Damon asked.

"I told you two I don't want to talk to you. What happened a hundred and fifty years ago isn't your problem anymore." Katherine said.

"This is one of those situations where they always say something about the lady and protesting." Stefan said.

"I don't think this is what Shakespeare had in mind when he wrote the word Lady." Damon said and blinked as he was slapped by Katherine. "You weren't that insulted." He said, after all if she'd wanted to hurt him she could knock him across the room without half trying. "And you aren't protesting nearly as much as Stefan thinks you are."

"Were there necromancers in Mystic Falls ?" Stefan asked.

"I don't know." Katherine said. "There were rumors. Eventually we thought that it was something they said to keep the vampires out of the area when the war began to uproot us all. Believe me nothing says keep out to a vampire like stories of a powerful necromancer. Something you wouldn't understand since you're shacking up with a light weight."

"Now now, put away the kitten claws." Damon said.

"Why all the questions." She asked backing away from the door.

"Turns out some of the family artifacts in town were made by a necromancer instead of Emily." He told her.

"Can't say I'm surprised. I can honestly say I did not encounter a necromancer in mystic falls." She told them.

"Which is Katherine speak for …" Damon began.

"She encountered one somewhere else. " Stefan finished.

"Oh come on." Katherine said in frustration. "Yes I have encountered one before. No you don't need details because it has nothing to do with you. I promise. Nothing to do with you or your," She made a face "girlfriend."

"Fine, we'll table it for now." Stefan said. "The other issue at hand is as always Klaus."

"So you finally believe me." She said walking back toward the living room. "What has he done?"

"He's possessed Tyler." Damon told her.

"That's the werewolf he turned right?" Katherine asked. "He does have a fixation for being a hybrid."

"We need you to help us lure him out into the open." Stefan said.

"We'll protect you." Damon told her.

"Stop hounding me about the past and I'm in." Katherine told them with a smile.

* * *

"Do they know anything?" Klaus demanded sitting across Abby's kitchen table from Bonnie.

"I don't think so." Bonnie said rocking slightly in her seat.

"You aren't inspiring much confidence, my girl."

Bonnie leveled a scathing glare at the vampire. It was the hazard of wearing an all too familiar far from frightening face. He had lost a good deal of his impact.

" I'm not your girl," she said."It wasn't mentioned when they sent their witch down to examine me. They threw everything else in my face but that. Caroline wouldn't have been able to resist it either. She loves Tyler for some unknown reason."

"Good. I'm going to be testing that love very soon." Klaus said.

Bonnie laughed. "You're using his body like a cheap suit. That doesn't make you Tyler. And with him not in there with you, you don't have access to his memories. "

"Then perhaps we need to take a page from my brother's book and try and find the boy. "

Bonnie rolled her eyes at him.

"Have a little respect." Klaus said. "They may not care about you any longer but there is at least one of them that you do care about. And of course the people whose hospitality we are imposing upon might appreciate a little care regarding their well being." Something about the way he looked at her with Tylers coal black eyes sent a chill down her spine.

* * *

Henry brushed the dirt away from the top of the coffin. The last people to break in weren't so careful of the man's dignity. There was no need to pry it open as a large hole was visible in the top. He did so anyway knowing his mistresses exacting standards.

He leaped from the grave and simply nodded to her that he had completed his work. Yvette stepped closer and he gently lowered her down into the grave.

"I know you disapprove of your sons Mr. Salvatore, but you are just going to have to get over it." She said as she began to pull tools from her bag.

"You don't know as much as you think," Giuseppe said, sitting on the side of his grave looking down into it as the necromancer desecrated his remains.

"Why don't you explain it to me then. " She said, rolling her eyes. They always wanted to explain and as much as she hated listening to them it made her work that much easier if she just let them get on with it. Some days she felt like a therapist for restless dead. One day she was certain it would turn her into Alexandra.

Giuseppe laughed. It wasn't a pleasant sound. "I did what I did to protect my boys. So you go ahead with whatever it is you are doing. "

"Not that I need your permission." She said. "How exactly is it you protected those two with a bullet to the chest?" She asked. If the man had let them live out their mortal lives she wouldn't be where she was at the moment. Back in Mystic Fall's digging up bones.

"If I hadn't they would have died in the church when they set it ablaze. A gentler death don't you think."

"Fair point that." She said. "Guess you didn't know the Pierce woman had been feeding them her blood." Yvette said severing several digits and putting them into a bag.

"I knew." He said. "I never expected Stefan to kill me." He said chuckling a little. "I always expected it would be Damon."

Yvette lifted her arms and Henry pulled her from the grave, going down to take her place and seal things properly.

"What are you using the bones for?" Giuseppe asked rubbing at the ethereal version of the same hand. He was relieved to see his fingers still there. "And are you going to be… how did she explain it… removing me from them?"

"No." Yvette said. "It would render the bones useless." It wasn't like he wouldn't know after all.

"Good." He said. He slid down into his grave as the vampire began to cover the coffin once more.


	27. Chapter 27

**Chapter twenty seven**

"You want me to what?" Tyler asked looking at Jeremy incredulously. "I barely escaped being trapped in that thing to begin with. " He moved to stand beside Caroline and tried to touch her hair. He'd always loved the way it felt in his fingers. Like cool strands of silk. He couldn't feel her and she couldn't hear him.

"It's the only way to get you back into your body. We have no way of knowing when we'll have Klaus cornered. So it's just best to be prepared." Jeremy said.

"You don't know if you will get Klaus cornered." Tyler pointed out. "Can you tell her I love her?" he asked not taking his eyes off of the girl before him.

"He says he loves you." Jeremy said, and almost wished he hadn't when Caroline's eyes misted over in tears.

"I love you too, "She said looking around, her eyes instinctively finding him, even without seeing him.

"Don't cry, Baby." Tyler said "It'll be alright. Please don't cry." He looked to Jeremy. "I'll do it… if she wears it."

"He says not to cry, and that he'll do it if you'll wear the necklace." Jeremy said.

"Of course I will." Caroline said.

"That is a bad plan. Even I can see that. " Damon said, "It's too easy to get to you. If he is anywhere near here, he has been watching you all this time. And if he's not he's had his fur balls doing it for him. It's what he does."

"What are you my father?" She asked both hands on her hips. "Your days of telling me what to do are long gone mister."

"He's in trouble now. I know that look." Tyler said and Jeremy chuckled. That was something he was not going to repeat.

"Kind of…" Damon said. "I don't know." He sighed in frustration. "It would make you a target. Klaus has to know what that thing looks like. He was in it. "

"Good" Caroline said. "Then we don't have to depend on Katherine. I can do this, Damon. "

"And if he finds out you're luring him in, he will bite you. I don't care how much he thinks he's falling in love with you. He locked his family in coffins for centuries. Love doesn't matter to him when he's angry."

"I'm going do this." Caroline repeated firmly.

Damon threw his arms up in the air and walked out of the room. "Fine. What ever." He said going to pour himself a glass of bourbon. He looked up seeing Stefan there. "What?" He asked.

"That's what I was going to ask you." Stefan said leaning against the bar. "You've been in a mood since we left Katherine's yesterday. "

"I'm fine." He said. "I just don't like putting all of this on her. She's too young and we don't have a convenient lookalike for this one."

Stefan laughed "At her age you were fighting a war. "

"Believe it or not Stefan, the civil war was a vacation for me. You at that age however, being the family golden boy that you are, were studying, learning the family business and writing poetry in your journals. Who was it you were writing about before Katherine? Elizabeth Lockwood? Clarissa Fell?" He asked. "Does Meredith know that you were entertaining thoughts of being her great great … great… however many greats… grandfather?"

"Damon." Stefan sighed. "This isn't the time to go into how you felt cheated somehow because Dad and I got along."

"I don't know if you've just got a selective memory, or if you really do think the world revolves around you. That is not what was wrong between me and our father. "He said with a bitter laugh. "Gotta say though, all that love and respect he had for you didn't stop him from using you as vampire bait, or putting a bullet in your chest. " he took a long drink " Then again it didn't stop you from eating him either, did it Brother."

"Why is all this coming up now?" Stefan asked, worriedly.

"I don't know, maybe wracking my brain to see some sort of supernatural menace from our past." He said. "There's more than one sort of monster in the world, Stefan." He set the glass down. "Let Alex know I've got some errands to run. I'll see her tonight. The rest of you apparently have a handle on the situation without me."

"Damon. " Stefan said and sighed as his elder brother left the house.

Alexandra came from the library where the others were making plans. It was ironically not something she could help with. The one thing you would think would be the purview of a necromancer belonged to the witches.

"He said to tell you he has errands to run." Stefan said with a frown. "He's on edge and he won't tell me what's going on."

Alex rested her hand on Stefan's arm. "You may be vampires, but underneath it all you're only human." She said. "You've both been under unbelievable stress the last few years, and he's still processing the abduction."

Stefan closed his eyes slowly.

"Now isn't the time for guilt. He doesn't blame you anymore. That's part of what Bonnie was trying to do to both of you. Tie you up in guilt and anger so tightly that you couldn't see past the lies. "

"She was trying to drive me to kill you." Stefan said. "And if you had treated Damon the way Yvette treats Henry… I would have."

"Fortunately for you and Damon, that will never be an issue." Alex said with a smile. "Just give him time. I know you have always seen your brother as larger than life. But he's not. He's just a man like any other"

"No he's not." Stefan said with a faint smile. "I thought you would have figured that out by now."

"You don't remember much about your child hood do you?" She said quietly.

"Why do you say that?" He asked.

"If you remembered, maybe you'd understand him better."

"I know what he was implying. My father was not a monster. He was just… afraid … like most people are of vampires. Most of the time they're right to be." Stefan said.

"Monster is such a subjective word. " She said. "Your father was kind to you. He was open with his affection and respect with you. He was just the opposite with Damon. "

"Our mother made up for that. " Stefan said a little stiffly.

"Nothing makes up for that. But I think you already know that." Alexandra told him, and turned to walk away.

* * *

Damon scrubbed at the sarcophagus until it gleamed in the light. With the vervain gone from around the mausoleum light was able to come through the narrow windows that sat at ground level. He smiled looking at it and nodded "It's looking better don't you think?" He said, not expecting a response. "Soon it'll be as good as new."

He picked up the broom and began to sweep at cobwebs preparing the clean the cold marble walls.

_(1854_

_Damon scowled staring at the workmen as they lined the hole they had carved out of the bedrock with marble and travertine._

_Madelena Salvatore rested a hand on her ten year old son's shoulders. "Why so angry?" She asked._

_"He's digging your grave, Mother." Damon said looking up at her, wondering why she didn't understand._

_"Yes, but he's building someplace very special for me. He's not being ghoulish. He's honoring me." She told him, "Its nothing to be afraid of or angry over."_

_"You're not going to die, I won't let you." Damon said fiercely and if the determination in those blue eyes, so much like her own, was any indication he would succeed in making her live forever._

_She hugged him. "Death cannot be stopped, my darling. " She said kneeling beside him. "It's not like the priests say you know. There is no eternal damnation, no fires, no torment. There is either peace, or there is waiting and watching over those you love. "_

_"When you die will you still be watching over us?" Damon asked._

_"I will always be watching over you.")_

Alaric watched as Damon moved on to scrubbing the walls and then the floor. "What are you doing?" He asked, remaining unseen and unheard to his friend. The man was moving as if driven to some purpose. Why all the fervor now when for the entire time he had known him, he had never so much as come here once.

* * *

"Avril is at Stefan's place dealing with the disembodied boy." Yvette said letting her mother into the apartment. "So we have time to work."

"Good. I don't want either of them knowing I'm in town." Julianna said as she entered her daughter's temporary home. "Do you have everything I asked for?"

"Yes." She said and led the way to the kitchen where she had set up her work space on the island. "I'll get the crucibles."

Julianna nodded and looked over the work top, wrinkling her nose occasionally. She hated working with necromancers, even her own daughters. Unfortunately it was a necessary evil in life; much like putting up with vampires.

Her daughter returned with two small well worn ceramic bowls, blackened from previous usage. Yvette set them on the island.

"Here are Giuseppe's bones, ground as you said." Yvette told her.

"And the others?"

"I can't" Yvette said. She was willing and capable of committing almost any act upon the dead. She hated them. She had always hated them. The feel of them, the taste of them, it all came together like sack cloth and ashes. But her father was another matter.

Julianna rolled her eyes and held out her hand. "Of all of my daughters, you were the one I never expected to be crippled by sentiment." She said sharply.

Reluctantly Yvette handed over her father's bones. "And you're the last person I expected to be so callous about my father." She countered.

Her mother slapped her and gave a warning glance to Henry to stay in his place. "It's what your father would want." She said as she placed the bones into the mortar and pounded them into a powder with a fervor Yvette equated with hatred more than expediency.

Julianna poured the powder into the crucible, and Giuseppe's into the other. Into each she also added the appropriate herbs, willow, vervain, angelica root, and aconite. She added Damon's blood to Giuseppe's as well as some from another vial that she took from her pocket. It was old, and the blood within was powdered and she measured it out carefully. She then placed a silver ingot in each bowl.

She took her daughters hands in her own and held them one over each crucible. They began to chant and the heat filled the bowls, the ceramic glowed first red then white hot as it heated the contents to a molten mass. The silver absorbed the other contents, eventually becoming an homogenous liquid.

Yvette set the molds on the table and took the tongs to pour the mixture into them. She stood back as her mother once more began to chant in a language she did not understand. Yvette took great satisfaction in the fact that the spell seemed to drain her mother's resources by the time she was done and the molds opened.

Julianna eased onto one of the bar stools and looked over her work. Two rings, bone and silver twined together even though it should not have been possible. "Good. Those will do nicely. " She said and took the glass of juice that Yvette handed her. "Tell her they came by mail. She'd spoken to me of it the night she was attacked.

"You should be careful, Mother. She could have died that night. If Damon had acted on instinct rather than grabbing the phone first she would be very much dead."

"Would she? Are you sure?" Julianna asked, dark eyes twinkling. "Where do you think the Bennett girl got the recipe for the poison? "

"What are you playing at?" Yvette asked.

"I'm not playing, girl." She said. "I'm paying an old debt. That's all you need to know."

"To that vampire they are looking for? Klaus?" Yvette's eyes narrowed.

"Dear god, no." She said laughing. "You will understand when all is finished. In fact I think you will be pleased. So long as you keep your mouth shut, and do as you're told all will end well." She gathered the bottles containing Damon's blood and put them in her bag. "What of your pet?" She asked glancing to Henry.

"He doesn't speak unless I allow it. He can't reveal anyone's secrets."

"Good. See that he stays that way or you will be looking for another pet. I hear Damon has a brother. He's of no use to me. "

Yvette frowned. "Don't threaten me, Mother." She said. "Not even through my thrall. Even I have my limits."

"There may be hope for you yet." She said.

* * *

Avril held out the obsidian disk, and made sure that the lock was opened. "Alright, we'll begin." She said and Caroline unfolded the spell holding it out for her to read from.

"He's ready." Jeremy said.

Tyler watched with more than a little trepidation and the spell began. Instantly he felt the pull toward the pendant. He didn't really want to be trapped inside of something that small, even if he didn't have any mass or size any more.

"It's okay." Jeremy said. "We'll pull you out again. I promise."

Tyler looked at his friend and nodded, with a stern sort of resignation and let himself go.

Caroline drew in her breath as the stone changed from obsidian black to garnet red. She waited until Avril turned the key to take it in her hands. "It's warm." She said breathlessly. "I think I can feel him in here."

Avril smiled "I can add a spell if you like to prevent its being removed. I'll have to be there to transfer him back to his original body so I can undo it then."

"Yes please." She said, and slipped it around her neck. She felt a tingle as Avril said a few words and touched the pendant.

"There you are. Secure as it can be." Avril said. Even if the girl died they wouldn't be able to take it from her. If they couldn't take it from her they couldn't use it.


	28. Chapter 28

**Chapter twenty eight**

Alexandra sighed in relief as she entered their home. It had been an insanely busy day and all she wanted to do was get a bath and go to bed. She dropped her keys into the bowl on the entry table and smiled seeing Damon's keys there. His car was in the drive, but that didn't always mean he was home. He always carried his keys though.

"Damon?" she called out and was startled by the sudden appearance of Alaric Saltzman in front of her. "I swear to god I'm going to put a bell on you." She whispered. "Where's Damon?"

"Sleeping. Has he mentioned his mother to you or her gravesite?" Ric asked.

"No. Not at all." She answered.

"He spent the better part of the afternoon and part of the evening cleaning up the mausoleum. He was… different." Alaric said. "I think he's becoming obsessed."

"I'll go out there and have a look again tomorrow. I'll take Avril with me. One of us should sense something."

"Do you think this is part of what Timon did to him? "

"It's possible, although I don't know why." She said. "None of it is making any sense."

"He's not going anywhere but there when he isn't with Stefan or you." Alaric said.

"I'll find out what's going on. Thank you for following him. Have you found out anything about his mother?"

"Not yet. Some things are harder to influence people to do than others." He said.

"I'll ask Meredith to help. She's bored out of her mind waiting on the medical board to review her case files. Not that they'll find anything. Certainly not any complaining patients." They all recovered miraculously after all and vampire blood wasn't exactly something the mass spectrometer could pick up yet. "But… for now… I need to see to Damon and a long hot bath. "

"That is my clue to vacate." He said and was gone as quickly as he had appeared.

Alex sighed once more before going into the bathroom and starting the water running. Bubbles were added and she went to fetch a bottle of wine and two glasses from the kitchen which she set on the tub side table.

Damon was asleep, draped across the bed kitty corner as if he had dropped down to just rest for a moment and had drifted off.

"Hey sleepy head." She said as she nestled in beside him. He smelled of chemicals and polish, dust and dried leaves. "I've got a bath running."

Damon drew in a long slow breath and stretched. "I like the sound of that." He said and propped up on one elbow. "You look exhausted."

"Flatterer " She teased, smiling a little. "And you smell like a handy man."

He frowned and smelled his hand. "That's weird. Good thing you have a bath running. " He wrinkled his nose as sniffed again. "huh." He said and sat up. "Want me to get the wine?"

"Already in there. The only thing missing is us." And that was all the reaction? Something was definitely wrong.

"Then I guess we'd better get on that." He told her as he rose to his feet and offered his hand.

She took it and let him lead her to the bath. "So what have you been up to today?" Alexandra asked, enjoying the view as her man undressed. Leanly built, but muscular, a whipcord strong body even without the vampiric enhancements. He still looked like a man fresh from the war front and ready for battle.

Damon paused "Just … errands." He said and blinked a couple times. "So what about you?"

Had he been right? Should she have fixed what was wrong in his head? He was blacking out now. Still it was just tending his mother's grave. It shouldn't be so ominous.

She gave him a rundown of her day, classes, meeting Avril over at the boarding house and Tyler being put into the disk. "I am starting to see a correlation between local supernatural activity and certain people skipping school." She said sliding into the hot sudsy water.

"I think you may be right. Should I have a word with my brother?" He asked with a grin. "Kids these days."

She laughed and broke off a piece of chocolate while Damon poured the wine.

"Chocolate… you're stressed." He said. "What aren't you telling me?" He asked.

"Not used to being on the protected list is all." She said. He'd made her promise to be cautious, promise not to go anywhere alone especially not at night. The only time she'd had alone in days had been the drive from dropping Avril off at her apartment to home. Strangely he counted Alaric as having someone with her. As if the ghost could protect her from hybrids or wayward necromancers.

"I'm sorry." He said gently.

"It's not your fault."

"Sure it is. I asked you here." Damon took a drink of his wine.

"Babe, I chose to come here, I chose to stay, I'm responsible for me being here, not you."

He turned her around so that her back was pressed against his chest and he picked up the bar of soap. "I'm going to be selfish and not try and talk you into leaving."

"Good cause it wouldn't work. Especially when you are doing that." She said. "Mother called. She sent out a pair of rings they should get to Yvette tomorrow. " Alexandra sighed in pleasure as he began to bathe her. One of the many things she had missed over the years. Damon was a hedonist by nature and who was she to deny him that?

"Yvette? Why not just send them here?" He asked. Not that he was completely comfortable with her mother handling things. Something about that woman had always given him the cold horrors.

"She didn't have the address and neither did Yvette so they figured it was easier to send them to her and have done with it. "

"Do you think they'll work?" Not that he was taking the tincture any more, but he still liked the idea of being able to block someone else.

"Mother is certain. She added vervain to both, so it's possible we can both stop taking it. So we're going to be careful when you put yours on. If there is the slightest pain you take it off. You're the only one who can."

He nodded. "I like that little feature." Damon said. "Although I suppose it could be cut off."

"Damon!"

"Well it can. I mean it's what I'd do if there wasn't any other way to get something off of a guy." He shrugged.

Alexandra laughed. "You're something else, you know that right."

"I think your favorite word this time around is incorrigible." He said grinning. "Last time it was unbelievable."

"And in the beginning it was Impossible." She laughed. "You're getting better with age."

* * *

"What do you mean the necklace is gone?" Klaus demanded, one hand going around the witches neck. "Who did you tell about its existence?"

"No one." Bonnie managed to get out around tightening fingers. "I didn't tell anyone. I didn't want them to know."

"Someone had to tell them it was important."

"Not necessarily." Abby said quickly, hoping to divert the elder vampire's anger. "The Salvatores have another witch. The necromancer's sister. They might have just been scavenging her belongings. If it was put some place safe they might be trying to figure out what it is instead of knowing."

Klaus lessened his grip and let Bonnie go. "Sounds like you need to get rid of their witch before that happens. See that you are more efficient about it than you were getting rid of dear Alexandra." He left the house and got into a car to drive away. There were hybrids on the property; ostensibly to keep them safe but not one of those living there had any illusion as to what they were actually there for.

"You listen to me." Abby said taking her daughters hands in her own. "You need to stop using magic against these people. With your hot spot destroyed you are no match for a witch that old."

"Then what do I do?" Bonnie asked, her dark eyes wide and a little wild.

"You do it the old fashioned way. Witches and Necromancers are human beings with powers, sweetheart. You kill them the same way you kill anyone else. "

"I don't know if I can." She said.

"If you don't, Klaus will go after Jeremy, and then he'll kill Jamie and then me. You can do anything you have to do in order to protect the ones that you love."

She nodded nervously. "You're right… I know… "

* * *

Stefan was restless. The entire situation was out of his control, which wasn't all that surprising or unusual, and generally didn't lead to the loss of sleep. The troubling point was that he couldn't figure out who exactly was in control. Before Klaus had been in control, before that all the troubles in his life had been under his brothers well practiced hand.

Damon was not a forgiving man on the best of days. There was too much of their father in him. Not that he could ever tell his brother that. They had the same temper, the same instinct to lash out when hurt, the same ability to hold a grudge. Stefan had tried to be a buffer between them but it had rarely worked. Damon had seemed determined to push their father to the edge; it seemed to Stefan that his brother had actually wanted the man to hit him. More often than Stefan liked to remember their father had been willing to give Damon exactly what he had wanted. Was that why Damon inferred their father was a monster?

Before his mother had become ill he could remember hearing the arguments between his parents when Giuseppe would take his temper too far in her eyes. Their mother would always champion Damon. Stefan was surprised to find that this still rankled a little. The woman had barely spared a moment for him. Then again… she had been ill for a significant part of his childhood really.

He slid out from under Elena and dressed quietly. Bonnie was out there somewhere under Klaus's thumb. Katherine was in town. His brother was falling in love with a necromancer whose sister was pure evil as far as Stefan was concerned, yet the pair of them ignored how she treated the vampire under her control. Henry weighed heavily on his mind.

He left the house and began to walk. He had no destination in mind. There was too much there vying for his attention already to give a destination much thought at all. He could remember walking these same streets in the evenings. He'd walked them with a number of young women in his mortal life. As a young man, especially with his brother far from home, he'd been quite popular.

Damon had been right about Elizabeth Lockwood, and Clarissa Fell. He'd been hopelessly school boy crush in love with both of them growing up. Damon had teased him mercilessly about them both and had seduced Elizabeth Lockwood when he'd come home on leave to recover from an injury the year before he'd resigned his commission, and he'd laughed about it after Stefan had caught them together.

Aside from her beauty, and obvious charms the one thing that had drawn him to Katherine more than any other was that she had never laid eyes on Damon. During the months before Damon's not so triumphant return to Mystic Falls he had walked Katherine along these streets and through the park. They had talked endlessly about everything and nothing. Somehow talking with her had made the world come even more alive before his eyes. He had believed that they shared a poetic, romantic nature.

_1863_

_"I want to know everything about you." Katherine said as she wrapped herself around Stefan's arm._

_"There isn't much to know. " He said blushing a little. "I work with my father when I'm not at school." He said. "you already know all about what I am studying. You've seen my life play out in front of you for weeks now."_

_"Silly boy, that isn't all there is to a persons life." Katherine told him. "There's your favorite poet, your favorite book, where you got that scar on your arm, why your father is always so sulky… what happened to your mother and why she isn't buried with the rest of the family."_

_Stefan laughed. "My favorite poet is William Blake, Wuthering Heights is my favorite book." He said indulging her. "My arm… that was a fight between me and my brother last summer, nothing glorious, he hit me and I hit the ground, the rock that happened to be between me and the ground took offense and hit harder than Damon did." His smile faded a little as he remembered his father's treatment of his brother after the fight, driving him back to the war before he'd completely healed of his injuries. "My father hasn't been truly happy since my mother became ill." He said. "He gets into moods, and he'll drink. It's best to avoid him in those moods." Not that Stefan had ever been victimized by them. He was the only one who seemed to be able to sooth his father._

_"That is very romantic." Katherine said softly "I've known men to find a new wife before the first is yet cold in their grave. Your mother was a lucky woman. Tell me about her." She said as they neared a park bench._

_"My brother knew her better." Stefan admitted. "I was very young when she became ill. She didn't have the strength to deal with an energetic child." This was how it had been explained to him; the fact that his mother wanted nothing to do with him. Yet she still had time for Damon. Who had been older and could at least pretend to be sedate in order to be in her presence. "I remember she was very beautiful, with raven black hair like yours." He said smiling a little. "My brother has her eyes. Pale like the morning sky. ")_

He had let her probe and ask questions. At the time it had made him happy. Her questions had brought his mother to life again for him in some ways. She had made him realize that he knew more about her than he had ever thought possible. He hadn't thought anything of it other than she had latched on to a romantic notion as young girls do, and he had been genuinely seventeen at the time and had all the guile of a woolly lamb.

Looking back with older eyes he could see the strangeness of her questions. Where was she buried, did she keep a journal too. She asked questions about heirlooms and keepsakes. They were questions about things that didn't raise any alarms until he thought about the garnet stone found in the wine cellar, one that looked quite similar to the one that now housed Tyler's soul.

He turned up a walk and realized where it was he must have been going all along. With a heavy sigh he reached up and knocked on Katherine's door.

"Stefan." She said opening the door. "Is everything alright?" in spite of what the brothers thought she did care for both of them. She stepped aside and let him enter. "There's wine if you'd like."

Stefan walked inside and nodded. "I'd like that. "He said looking down a moment, before looking back into her near black eyes "I'd like to talk if we could."

"Sure." She said leading the way inside. Katherine brought a second glass for him to join her. "So tell me what's wrong. You wouldn't come to me at two in the morning if there wasn't something wrong." He didn't come to her at all unless he needed something, although she put those thoughts aside.

"I know you don't want to talk about it, but I need to." Stefan said as he took a seat and the offered glass of wine. "I need to know why you were asking so many questions about my mother."

Katherine sighed.

"I'm not here to badger you. I just want to know. " Stefan said.

"I was looking for information. " She said. "No that's not as vague an answer as it sounds. I told you there was a power vacuum. Well there had been a Necromancer in Mystic Falls. " Katherine told him. "A woman, with a vampire hand maiden. " She said. "I can't say about Alexandra. I hope for Damon's sake that she is as good to him as he thinks she is. " For her sake too, because there would a line forming for vengeance if it turned out to be otherwise. "They usually don't take any chances with their slaves. They effectively compel them to keep their secrets, they program them to a certain behavior. This programming doesn't go away when the necromancer dies. A friend of mine from my early days as a vampire… the one that actually helped me with my transition, had run up against one and she'd been taken by this female necromancer. By the way they aren't as weak as all of that. Some say they can be more powerful than the male. Which is the real reason they try to avoid training their daughters." She said.

"I have rarely found the female of any species to be truly weaker than the male." Stefan said with a faint smile. "So you were tracking this friend of yours for … altruistic reasons."

"No." Katherine said honestly. "She had the moonstone and I needed to get it back from her."

"Only to give it up to Lockwood in order to save your neck. Pretty ironic."

Katherine attempted to scowl at him and failed. "I found her in New Orleans. " She said "She'd started working with a witch there trying to break the programming. She couldn't talk. She was going through withdrawals, apparently necromancy can be addictive to some vampires and going cold turkey isn't exactly healthy. It's worse the longer you're exposed. It can drive you mad."

"Which is why Damon won't do anything about Henry," Stefan said understanding now his brother's reluctance, although Stefan was starting to think a stake through the heart would be a kindness. "If you found your friend in New Orleans why come to Mystic Falls?"

"She'd hidden the moonstone here. So I had to find out who the necromancer was that had kept her all that time. I knew it would be someone foreign and dead. " Katherine said honestly. "That was why I was asking so many questions about your mother. "

"You found it in my house didn't you." Stefan said as he finished off his glass of wine.

Katherine paused to refill their glasses. "Yes." She said finally. "I found it in your house."

"Are you saying my mother was a necromancer?" He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"None of you, not even your father remembered my friend. It's possible that Veritas was just a convenient hiding place. Don't go reading things into it. God please don't go reading things into it in front of Damon. " She remembered all too clearly how much Damon had adored his mother. Even years after her death he adored her. Very latin of him she supposed.

"No… I think you are right about that. We don't tell Damon until we know for sure. "


	29. Chapter 29

**Chapter twenty nine**

Stefan stirred and stretched, then sat up looking perplexed. "Katherine…" He said looking around him. He was laying on the floor in front of the fire place. Katherine's fireplace. He didn't remember getting there. He remembered coming to talk to her. He remembered them talking until near dawn, but he didn't remember falling asleep in front of the fireplace.

"Don't worry. You fell asleep. That's all." Katherine said as she walked through the living room toward the kitchen. "Sorry I've got an appointment to get to so you'll have get your own breakfast and see yourself out."

"What appointment is that?" He said getting up and putting the blanket on the sofa.

"I have to see a professor about a translation. " she paused. "Want to come?"

He frowned a moment then nodded. "Yeah I do." He said. She'd told him about the book and where she had found it along with the moon stone and the garnet disk. It was beginning to look more and more like his mother had at the very least been heavily involved with the Necromancer Katherine had been looking for. It was more likely that she had actually been the woman in question but he didn't want to believe that until he was certain. He hoped the book would lead to proof one way or another.

He pulled out his phone and sent a text to Elena that he was headed out of town to do a little research. She was probably furious with him right about now anyway for slipping out in the middle of the night but he didn't have time to deal with that at the moment. He needed information and Katherine was the only place to get it.

"Good, you can drive." She said as she headed for the door.

Stefan chuckled.

* * *

Damon pulled into the high school parking lot. "Do you want to get together for lunch today?" He asked "I'm going to be in town. I want to look through the library at the boarding house." He said. "Found a few books missing from my collection. I probably put them away down there for some unknown reason."

"No. I've got a lunch date with Meredith today. I've been neglecting her since my sisters arrived. We're going shopping or at least window shopping. I need a dress for the Founders ball." Alex said with a smile.

"That's right, it is that time of year isn't it. It looks like we get to go dancing after all." He grinned at her. "And they play all that old stuffy … stuff… that you like to dance to at those things too."

"It's not stuffy it's just old." She said laughing. "And you loved it back in the day."

"Only with you." He said and leaned in to kiss her. "Now get out of my car." He added with a grin. "I'll pick you up at three and you can show me that new dress when we get home."

"You don't want to see me in it you want to see it on the floor beside the bed."

"That too, but its only fun when I'm the one that puts it there." Damon teased.

"I'll think about it." She said getting out of the car. "But not as much as you will. I hear every two minutes is the average."

Damon laughed and pulled out of the parking lot. He had to find that book. Katherine had to have brought it with the disk. So it had to be hidden there somewhere.

He parked in front of the house and frowned. Stefan shouldn't still be there he should be off at school. Well he'd have to be cautious was all. He strode into the house as if he still owned it, and went straight for the library.

"There you are."

He frowned and turned to face Elena.

"Oh… sorry… I thought you were Stefan."

"I can't say that's ever happened before. Shouldn't you two be in class? "He said. "You're gonna be late and the fact your first period teacher is practically your sister in law is no excuse. So when is the big day anyway?" He asked as he started looking through the shelves, peeking behind books, and definitely not thinking about the fact that his mothers engagement ring was on her finger.

"We've postponed it until the Bonnie and Klaus situation is dealt with. " She said standing in the doorway. "Stefan was gone when I woke up but his car is still here."

"He likes to walk. He really likes to just… walk. Call him." He shrugged continuing to look at every single book, checking under dust covers.

"I will. I just thought he was still here. What are you looking for anyway?" Elena asked. "Are you and Alex getting that serious? You did say practically my sister in law. "

Damon ignored the first question. "Promises were made, none of them involving wedding rings or any plans for wedding rings. "

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" She asked. "I mean… you asked her out here to help you get over someone else and you moved in with her because you were angry with Stefan. That's kinda shaky ground for a serious relationship." Damon was her friend, in spite of how they felt about each other, in spite of the past. She didn't want to see him get hurt.

"I think you don't know as much about my relationship with Alexandra as you think you do." He told her. "I also think that while your intentions are presumably good, and I appreciate the concern, you should butt the hell out especially since you are the someone else in question."

"You know, this sort of attitude is why it was so easy to convince Stefan that you were enthralled." Elena said.

"What attitude is that, Elena? The one that accepts that you chose my brother instead of me, even though we both know I was the right choice? The one that has me sticking around to help you when I should be heading for the hills at Mach speed? Or the one that has me actually happy with someone that isn't you or Katherine?" he asked bluntly. "Because if you mean the butt the hell out attitude? I've had that a hell of a lot longer than you've been alive little girl."

"I made the right choice." Elena said. "I love you, but I'm in love with Stefan."

"And I wish you all the best. I do. I've respected your choice. Now you need to respect mine." He said firmly. "You don't get to hover and be all judgy about my love life. I'm not going to play that game with you. Sort it out or when this latest Klaus drama is over, I'm out of here for good. "He turned his attention back to the books "Go check your phone. There's probably a dozen please forgive me for disappearing messages."

Elena turned on her heel and left the library. Damon was not being rational. If he were, he would understand what she had meant.

She found her cell phone but there was only one message. *sorry I disappeared last night. Heading out of town to do some research. Should be home late tonight or tomorrow morning. Love you.*

She frowned a little but grabbed her back pack and headed out the door for school. She was already half an hour late. Damon was right about one thing. She couldn't expect Alex to keep covering for her tardiness. Beyond that he was completely wrong.

She made it to class just before the bell to leave class and approached Alexandra's desk.

"Is everything alright?" Alex asked her.

"I need to talk to you about Damon." She said quietly.

"Close the door, we don't have long but alright." Alex said suspecting that the girl had noticed the strangeness in his behavior.

Elena did as she was told. "I know you care about him, and you think you know him, but –"

Alexandra raised an eyebrow, and signaled her to stop there. "Is this where you try to tell me I should go away and give him time to get over you?" She asked. "You have had several years of him playing the bad boy version of Lancelot to your Guinevere. You miss that. What girl wouldn't." She emphasized the word girl. "But you need to stay out of it."

"I don't want you to go away. I just think it's going too quickly."

"Don't confuse taking on adult responsibilities with being an adult. You're an intelligent girl, but I'm a little old to be taking romantic advice from a teenager. Now you should go to your next class before you're late there too."

Elena blinked and pulled away. She was being dismissed? She couldn't remember the last time she had been dismissed, and now twice in one day. "I'll see you later then." The four of them had plans to meet up at the grill that night for dinner. Damon and Stefan apparently liked that whole family get together thing. "If Stefan is back anyway. He's out of town doing some sort of research."

"Alright." Alexandra said with a nod. "Let us know."

Elena left the room and turned to come face to face with Matt Donovan. "Hi." She said.

"Hey, " he said. "So when did Stefan get a new car?" he asked, adjusting the books in his arms.

She blinked. "He didn't."

"Then whose car was it that you were in this morning?" He asked.

"I- ah- " She started.

"That was Katherine wasn't it." Matt said, feeling like a jerk for bringing it up.

"Yeah they're off doing research somewhere today. They left early this morning." Elena said. Why hadn't he told her he was with Katherine? Why was he with her to begin with? Why sneak off ?

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah… just really hungry. " She lied. "I should go before I lose control and confuse the lunch lady with lunch today."

"Want me to drive you?" He asked.

"No I'll be fine I just need to go eat. I'll see you later."

* * *

It was nearly noon when Stefan parked the car in the University parking lot. He sighed looking at his cell phone when it beeped.

*why didn't you tell me you were with Katherine? Is everything alright?*

*I'm fine. We're at Duke University. I'll tell you more later. Love you.*

He smiled when she responded in kind. And he closed the cell phone.

"So you two are getting married." Katherine said as she got out of the car and started toward the language arts department.

"Just as soon as Klaus is dealt with, yes," Stefan said."We don't want his shadow looming over us."

"Think how I feel." She stopped and waited for Stefan to open the door. "I've been under his shadow for 500 years."

"Hell of a way to live."

"It was either that or not live at all." She told him as she headed down the hall. She rapped twice on the office door and opened it.

Professor Hanlon lifted his head from his desk. "Miss Pierce, it's good to see you again."

"Thank you, professor. This is Stefan, the friend I told you about." She said.

"Ah so this treasure was your mother's. " He said pulling a copy of his translations out of the drawer and handing them over. He shifted uncomfortably in his chair and reached for a bottle of ibuprofen, downing five in one go. "Forgive my rudeness. I just can't shake this head ache."

Stefan frowned slightly as he studied the man. "That's alright. We understand. What did you do to your hand? He asked.

Professor Hanlon lifted his right hand "Ah that. I was cleaning the gutters and sliced my fingers pretty good over the weekend." He said "I keep telling my wife I'm not the right man for the job but she seems to think otherwise. "

Stefan chuckled and nodded.

Katherine smiled winningly at the professor. "So what did you find when you translated it?"

"Took longer than I had expected, it's not in French. It's in pre-Latin Sardinian , however the way its worded is closer to the renaissance."

"What does that mean in English?" Katherine asked, not liking the man's coloring at all. He'd better not be having a heart attack before they could get the information out of him.

"I am only presuming mind you, but I believe that it means that whoever wrote this book knew ancient Sardinian but it wasn't their native language. " He said and drew in a quick deep breath and squeezed his eyes shut, as a wave of pain hit him. "I believe this book was actually written in the 15th century. "He got out once it had passed."Especially given their fixation with the occult then, so called hermetic orders were cropping up everywhere.

Katherine looked through the pages. What she saw there was enough to get them all killed. A necromancer's book of rites was as sacrosanct as a witch's grimoire. She looked from the pages to the professor. "Where is the original?"

Hanlon's head lolled on his shoulders and his eyes rolled back in his head. Stefan checked his pulse. "Call 911. " He told Katherine. He would heal the man but he wanted to know what was wrong with him first. His condition looked all too familiar to him. As she did so he lifted the man's hand to look at the jagged cut across his fingers. It was angry and red looking; hot to the touch, but there was no sign of blood poisoning.

"What is it?" Katherine knew that look well.

Stefan shook his head. "I'll tell you later. I want to make sure first." He didn't like where his mind was going. His stomach rolled and he swallowed to ease the sudden tightness at his throat.

* * *

Alex and Meredith settled down for a cup of coffee. It was about all she'd have time for before going back to class. It was far from a restful lunch but she had the perfect dress for the founder's ball and was looking forward to showing it off to Damon later that night.

"So, were you able to find anything out about the Andreassi family?" she asked.

"I've got a friend of mine looking into them. He's a genealogy buff and does a lot of research into that sort of thing. So I gave him Madelena and Giuseppe's names." Meredith said.

"Thank you," Alex said taking a long drink of her cappuccino. "I just can't shake that I know that name from somewhere and it wasn't something Damon mentioned to me. He doesn't talk about his parents."

"Damon isn't the sharing type I've noticed. Not that I know him all that well. " Meredith admitted. "So you are actually building a new house on the property. Does this mean you two are permanent?"

"I think permanent is a word that rarely applies to vampires. " Alex said honestly. "But we're giving it a shot."

"I would think it would be easier since you can live as long as he does."

"I have to admit that's a powerful draw where I'm concerned. I've watched too many people die. Not that we're truly immortal. We're all too easy to kill if people go about it right."

"The place is protected enough. All you need is a bumper crop of wolf's bane and you're covered." Meredith laughed. "Have you been out to look at the ruins and the tomb yet?"

Alex looked at her quizzically.

"You didn't know? The ruins of the original Fell's Church is out there. The infamous tomb where the vampires were sealed is underneath it."

"Where Katherine was supposedly entombed?" she asked.

"Yeah that's the place."

"No." she said a little more sharply than intended. "I had no idea he had purchased the land with her tomb… supposed tomb… place he has been fixated on since the day I met him." So much him for being over Katherine. She fought the little green monster back into its box. It was a terrible struggle and she nearly lost the fight. But in the end her dignity won out over her jealousy.

"Did I just create a problem, oh god I did…" Meredith said.

Alex shook her head. "No, you didn't just create a problem. More like created a reason for us to have make up sex in a couple days." She laughed, pushing the box further into the recesses of her mind. He was with her. He had chosen her. She wasn't going to be threatened by either Elena or Katherine.

* * *

Elena had gone home to try and calm her temper down. She hated being this out of control of her emotions. Everything was larger than life and she was going mad with it all. The thought of Stefan alone with Katherine sent waves of anger through her so intense that all she had wanted to do in those first few moments was rip Matt's throat out.

She'd passed it off as hunger but it was rage. She trusted Stefan. She did not trust Katherine at all. She was up to something or she wouldn't be in town and that something usually involved Stefan and his brother. Usually she was trying to take Stefan away from her. She hit the work out bag, lashing out at it with everything she had in her until it flew off its hook and slammed into the wall opposite her.

She stared at it a moment, backing away and then turning to run for the door. She kept going until she got to the boarding house and went inside. "Damon." She called out, not knowing where else to go. "Damon?" She went into the parlor and found him draped across the sofa, sound asleep.

The room was a mess. It was littered with books that had been pulled from the shelves and tossed aside. She knew he'd been looking through the books earlier but why would he toss them around like this? This was not Damon-like behavior, unless something had thrown him into one of his own rages.

She walked over to the sofa and knelt down on the floor beside it. "Damon?" She said brushing a lock of dark hair from his face. "Damon, wake up."

He sniffed a little and made a displeased noise before rolling onto his side facing the back of the couch. "Go away." He muttered.

"Damon, wake up." She said again, more firmly this time.

Again that displeased half whine half growl. His I don't want to do this but I'm going to any way sound. She'd always found that sound adorable.

"What?" he asked turning over again to face her, not bothering to get up. He planned to stay there sleeping once he got rid of her. Once his eyes focused clearly on his surroundings he frowned. "What the hell happened in here?"

"That's what I was going to ask you." Elena said."When I left this morning you were searching the book cases for something. Now this." She indicated the scattered books.

His brow furrowed. "Huh." He said. "Remind me to ask Alex to check the place out for ghosts. A lot of people have died in here," he said. Usually they died by his hand. He sat up. "I'll sleep when I get home. Best to get this cleaned up now." Again he frowned when he looked her over. "You didn't come over here to talk about illiterate poltergeists. What's wrong?"

"I almost lost control at school today." She admitted as she got up and started gathering books.

"Hunger?" Damon asked joining her in her task.

She shook her head. "Anger." She said and explained the situation. She became infuriated all over again just by explaining it to him.

"Welcome to my world." He said sympathetically. "I would love to tell you that the emotions ease up over time but they don't. You just learn to control them better, " he put his hand full of books back on the shelf, " most of the time anyway. And for the record, nothing is happening between him and Katherine. It won't matter what she tries or how much he loved her a hundred and fifty years ago. You have nothing to worry about."

"That's what makes it so frustrating." She said. "I know I can trust him. I know he would never hurt me like that. But I still got so mad and every time I think about it I get mad all over again. "

"They have history. You're going to be jealous. It's a given." He told her. "We're a possessive race; predatory, possessive and vengeful."

"I'm not a jealous person. It's a waste." She said.

"You're right. It is. Think of it as Territorial. Yes there is a difference. When you see someone else encroaching on your territory you are going to react. It's just the way it works." Damon told her. " Everything you knew about yourself has changed, Elena. You're a vampire now. "


	30. Chapter 30

**Chapter thirty**

"Stefan." Katherine said."Hello, Earth to Stefan."

He looked up then as if jolted out of sleep even though he was wide awake.

"There you are." She said with a sigh. "They're running tests now. So you want to tell me why I just compelled the staff to start looking for poison? "

Stefan took a deep breath and let it out again. "He's showing symptoms of heavy metal poisoning, and unless the man has one hell of an insurance policy and his wife is trying to knock him off I think he picked it up from that book."

Katherine looked at him quizzically as she sat beside him on the waiting room bench. "Why the book? Heavy metals aren't a contact poison. Not unless you roll in the stuff. A lot."

"Unless you have an open wound and the poison's been altered." He stared at a spot on the floor. He looked up when she put her hand on his. "It's how my mother died."

"I thought it was consumption." She said.

"So did I. Until today. His symptoms mirror hers. Only I'm betting she was receiving much smaller doses. My father, wonderful human being that he was, " She didn't miss the hint of sarcasm in that sentence," Made the hedge maze and gardens for her. Her favorite flowers were magnolias, gardenia's and Jasmine. He put in an English rose garden instead because that was what he liked. And my mother tended those roses faithfully. She always had small little cuts on her hands. I remember that about her, soft hands with those little nicks and abrasions. " his voice went soft. "Ironic really that we just went over this in chemistry. Prolonged exposure to heavy metals or ingestion of small amounts over a prolonged amount of time produces respiratory distress in some people. It all depends on which organ it attacks first really. Vomiting, difficulty speaking. Excruciating pain."

"You think someone poisoned your mother through the book?" Katherine asked.

"Not someone… my father." He said eyes back on that speck on the floor. "He was unwavering in his belief that anything supernatural was evil. If my mother was the owner of that book she was a necromancer. He wouldn't have tolerated that. He shot his sons. If he could kill us, killing her would have been easy."

Katherine didn't know how to respond to that so she simply held his hand and let him talk.

"I think Damon suspected all along." He said quietly. "I think that's why he called father a monster."

"Your father earned Damon's hatred and resentment without it having anything to do with your mother. He loved to tear him apart, even I could see that. "

"Trust me it was mutual. " Stefan said.

"Let's wait for the test results before jumping to conclusions." She said. "Regardless we have to get that book so as soon as he has a room we'll go and get into his head to figure out where it is."

Stefan nodded. "You're right. "He said smiling a little sadly at her. It was nice to have her back in his life this way. Being a friend not someone out to control his life. He had missed her more than he was willing to admit to Damon or Elena. Especially now that Lexi was gone.

His thoughts turned back to Elena and he took out his cell phone. *Delayed. Prof in hospital. Could be poison. Waiting for reslts. Sorry. Tell D and A that I can't make family dinner night. Love you.* he texted.

* * *

Elena sighed. "They're going to be delayed. No clue how long. Apparently the professor they went to see is in the hospital. Possibly poisoned and they're waiting for the test results. So no family dinner night."

"Sure there is. It will just be minus Stefan." Damon said. "I'll have Sacha invite her sisters. " As much as he hated the thought of spending any quality time with them it was only fair. She dealt with his family after all. "Has he told you what they're out there for in the first place?"

Elena shook her head as she put the last of the books on the shelf. "No. But I'm sure it's important somehow."

Damon nodded. He took out his own phone and sent an email to Alex on her school account. She'd see that sooner than she would check her phone for messages.

(hey beautiful, Stefan is off with Katherine doing research apparently so plans for tonight have changed. I'm going to regret this later and believe me I will find some way for you to make it up to me, but go ahead and invite your sisters to join us for family night this week.- love you. D. )

"Okay that's taken care of. " he said all the while hoping Alex's sisters said no. "Why don't you invite Caroline and her permanently attached boyfriend to join us. The more the merrier" The more people in between him and Yvette the better.

"It's weird having normal family type activities with you." Elena said smiling. "I like it though. So does Stefan."

"He came back here to try and have a normal life. "Damon said shrugging. "So how is the abnormal side of life going for you, other than the out of control emotional roller coaster?"

"So far so good. I haven't tried hunting on my own, but the bagged blood is working so far. Stefan tried to show me how to hunt down animals but I can't do it." She said.

"Good. It tastes terrible and it makes you weak." He said firmly. "Avoid the bunny diet. You're not a ripper. You have self control."

"I can't look them in the eyes and kill them." Elena said. "You were right… it makes a difference."

Damon laughed at that. "Seriously? You can't bring yourself to kill a rabbit? What are you afraid of? Bad Bunny Karma?"

"They're helpless." She said. "And adorable."

"So are humans… although they are somewhat less universally cute than bunnies. " He said grinning.

"I don't have to kill a human to eat." She told him.

"Yet you eat meat." He said shaking his head.

"I don't have to look it in those big brown eyes before I eat it." She pointed out.

Damon laughed. "Yeah cause not looking it in the eyes makes it any less dead." He teased.

"That's not the point and you know it." She said swatting him with a throw pillow from the sofa.

"Guilt free feeding. I feel like such a failure as a parent. " he laughed at the look on her face. "Meredith did use my blood to heal you… soo…"

"Don't even go there cause you know what.. That would make Katherine your mother." She said dark eyes twinkling, watching for just the right body language from Damon and she took off running, with the older vampire hot on her heels.

The chase took them through the back streets of Mystic Falls. He'd catch her, pinning her against a wall or tree, and she'd bolt free again knowing full well that he was letting her get away, that the chase was more important than capture, they juxtaposed and Damon became the prey leading the way to the cemetery, where he suddenly reversed and grabbed her rolling on the ground, pinning her beneath him. "Got you." He said breathlessly.

She said nothing in return. Elena lay there on the soft grass, feeling the weight of him pressing against her and for the first time in months she wasn't thinking, wasn't fighting, she could just … be. She smiled up at him and brushed a piece of grass from his hair. She caught his eyes drifting to her mouth and for a moment she thought he was going to kiss her, and then he was gone.

"Damon?" She called out as she got to her feet, brushing the grass off of her pants.

"I'm here." He was standing some distance away looking over a grave site."You're getting stronger. That's good." He sounded distracted.

"What is it?" Elena asked as she joined him. They were in the older less trafficked portion of the cemetery, yet he was looking at what appeared to be a freshly dug grave.

"Someone has been out here." He said tightly. He had a feeling he knew who. What bothered him the most about it was how little he actually cared.

She looked at the head stone. Giuseppe Salvatore. Devoted husband and father. "I'm so sorry."

"It's not true you know." His voice was barely audible even to her ears. "He was neither. Not even to Stefan. Not that you can tell him that. He doesn't remember. I'm okay with that."

"Doesn't remember what?" Elena asked.

Damon simply shook his head. "We need to get back. I'm supposed to pick up Alexandra at the school."

With that the subject was closed and nothing she could say or do would get him to open up. So Elena didn't try. "I'll go with you. I want to talk to Caroline and Jeremy about tonight. Are you sure you want to have it at the grill? We can always have it at one of the houses."

"No. Public suits me fine." Damon said although his mind was elsewhere.

* * *

By the time she had gotten his email Alex was over being upset about the tomb being on their property. It was frustrating that he had never told her it was there especially knowing how she felt about Katherine. Then again she had her own secrets she was keeping. Sort of.

She emailed her sisters the pictures she had taken of the interior of Madelena Salvatore's crypt and the invitation to dinner. Yvette and Henry would be joining them. Avril would be staying home and spending the evening with her girlfriend on Skype.

She packed up her bag and homework to grade and headed out the door. She felt like waiting outside for him today. It was fast beginning to look like spring out there. Clear skies and crisp breezes that had warmed by the end of her work day. She spotted his car as it pulled into the parking lot. She laughed a little and shook her head as she watched Elena get out of the car and take off to find her friends.

"Hey you." She said and kissed him lightly. "Aiding and abetting truancy are you?" She teased.

"She's having a rough time with control. Almost lost it all over Matt in the hall." Damon said. "I'm trying to help."

She nodded. "Yeah, she seemed a little off this morning. Emotional." That would explain the attempt at wedging her out.

"Yeah? How so?" Damon asked.

"She's still into you and she's a teenaged girl with no clue. I wouldn't worry about it."

"See that you don't worry about it. You have nothing to worry about." Damon told her

"I never thought I did." She told him smiling. "Although I did find out something today that had me very angry with you for a couple of hours."

"What did I do this time?" He asked, giving her a lopsided smile. He was always doing something to upset someone somewhere. Who knew what Meredith had told her over lunch?

"You neglected to tell me that Katherine's tomb is on our property." She said leaning in close as they walked toward his car.

"Well technically it was never her tomb since she was never actually in there." He said.

She laughed. "That isn't the point and you know it."

"Isn't it?" He asked pausing to stand in front of her. "You're worried about me obsessing on Katherine again. I get it." He told her. "Every time you've seen me until now my whole world revolved around getting her out of that tomb." He said. "When I found out she was never in it, that she had been out there the whole time, love switched to hate. You have nothing to worry about."

"I know," She said, "which is why I am no longer mad at you. I just wish you had told me."

Damon nodded. "okay." He said opening the car door for her. "So is that the dress for the ball?" He asked pointing to her shopping bag.

"It is. And you don't get to see it until after we get home tonight." She said with a smile.

"Now that's not fair." He said as he pulled the car out of the parking space.

"Well I was mad at you for a whole two hours." She teased.

* * *

"We won't have the results until sometime tomorrow." The doctor told them. "If it is, he's lucky you found him when you did."

"Thank you. Can we see him now?" Stefan asked.

"He's resting now. Perhaps tomorrow." The doctor said.

"Of course." He answered. "Oh ahm… what room is he in? So we don't have to bother anyone tomorrow."

With the room number in hand, he led Katherine away. "Let's go find out where he put that book. If it is poisoning people I don't want anyone else affected."

He stood watch at the door while Katherine slipped inside. A few minutes later she came out and they started walking down the corridor out of sight. "He's dead" She said when they were finally outside. "I don't know where the book is."

Stefan swore. "It looks like we're going to be here a while." He said. "We'll head over to the university tonight. Hopefully we'll find out that I'm wrong in the morning."

"Yeah," She said softly. "I'm sure you are." Katherine lied. She was more than convinced that he was right, she knew he was. But she was not going to tell him that. "In the mean time, let's go get some coffee and look over the translations."

Stefan nodded. "Yeah, okay." He said and started walking back toward the car.

_(1858_

_Madelena Salvatore rested her hand on the shoulder of her youngest son, as he and her eldest helped her down the steps. Her skin was pale and delicate looking and neither of her sons was at all comfortable with the idea of her going to the Founder's Day picnic._

_"There will be other picnics, Mother. You should stay home." Damon said, with as much gravity as a 15 year old boy could manage._

_"I'll stay with you." 12 year old Stefan offered and for once his brother didn't scowl at him over it._

_"I'm fine. I'm just a little tired. The entire family needs to be there. It's important that people see us there." She said as they neared the carriage. Her hands tightened on her sons as a wave of weakness washed over her and her legs nearly gave way beneath her._

_"It's just a picnic, Mother." Damon said again attempting to be firm with her. "There will be another next year. We'll have one here the minute you're better."_

_"Your mother is right Damon, don't hover over her like an old woman." Giuseppe said stepping up to take Damon's place at her side, pushing the boy back._

_Stefan looked over his shoulder at his brother. The look of absolute rage and horror on his brother's face, the hatred in his eyes leveled at his father actually scared the younger boy. He was certain in that moment that Damon could kill their father without a second thought.)_

"Earth to Stefan." Katherine sighed.

"I'm sorry, you were saying?" He asked taking a drink of his coffee.

"I'm saying that this book scares the hell out of me." Katherine showed him a page "This is a book that needs to be destroyed." She said insistently. "This one here, is a ritual to rip someone open while they're still alive for divination, -"

"I've seen that one. It's not pretty. Damon almost didn't survive it." Stefan said looking into his coffee cup. "It took more than a week to heal."

That caused her to pause a moment. "This one is for bringing the dead back permanently. It requires a sacrifice. A huge sacrifice of dead or undead souls. " She put the sheet in front of him. "This one is for binding a spirit into an item and using them as a portable battery. This one is for-"

"Wait a minute." He said and pushed several pages back to her. "A battery… like they can pull energy from us by touch, they could carry a soul around and just suck the life out of them until they disappeared?" he asked looking it over. He tapped at the sketch of the gem stone. " They call this a soul stone. It looks like the stone that they put Tyler in. And the one we found in the wine cellar. " he chuckled a little seeing the look on her face. "Yes we found it. Damon has it. Don't go after it. "

Katherine gave him a look and sighed. "fine." She said

Stefan's brows knit together. "When Elena and Jeremy found the necklace at Bonnie's it was black. When I saw Caroline later it was dark red. Like the one you hid at my house. "

"So?"

"So, that means someone is in there." He said.

"Yeah well let's leave them there this time. Remember what happened the last time you let someone out of a box? Seriously, leave them be." Katherine said.

"I'd like to find out who's in there before I make a decision." Stefan said.

"I'd like to get it back from Damon." She said. "I'd feel a lot better if he didn't have it. He has the self control of a spider monkey on speed."

"He's not that bad when he's not acting out. " Stefan said with a silent laugh. "Tell me why you really want it."

"I owe someone." She said. "You don't need to know who or why."

"Come on, let's get past this whole secret keeping thing." Stefan said.

"We're not lovers, Stefan. You've made it plain we never will be again. You're not entitled to know everything about me. "

"Glad to see you've come to accept that." Stefan said.

Katherine shrugged.

"There is one more thing I noticed though" He picked up the page looking it over again. "It took a witch to bind the soul and unbind it into the stone. So this isn't purely a necromancer thing. "

"I don't know about that. What I do know is that I don't want this to get into the hands of anyone in that family. I don't trust them. Not even Damon's precious  
Alexandra."

"Your green eyed monster is showing." Stefan said shaking his head.


	31. Chapter 31

**Chapter thirty one**

Dinner had been fun. Yvette had even allowed Henry to enjoy himself a little, for which Damon was grateful. He'd have never heard the end of it from Elena or Caroline if there had been the slightest sign of abuse going on. They would understand when they got older. They were too young to understand human injustice much less what went on between the supernatural communities.

He didn't like it because it was another vampire but how was it any different than what he had done to Caroline in the beginning. Weren't he and Alex just a juxtaposition of him and Andi? There was a balance there somehow. Still… if he were ever to come across the bitch in a dark alley when he wasn't involved with Alex … only one of them would be coming out.

They paid the bill and went outside.

"I don't want to go home. It's too early. We should go do something." Caroline said and Elena smiled.

"Sure." It was good to see her friend smiling again; genuinely smiling, not merely faking her way through the day. Elena knew the difference. She had been there for months after her parents had died. Up until Stefan had come into her life. "We can catch the late show over at the theater."

Thinking of Stefan she took out her cell phone as they were crossing the street.

"We already have plans." Damon said. "So we'll leave you to it." He slipped an arm around Alexandra's waist as they crossed. He heard the car engine rev, and without taking time to look pulled Alex out of the way, just as Caroline pulled Jeremy and Elena back.

Henry reached for Yvette and they were both struck as the SUV swerved directly at them speeding up as it did so. Henry rolled over the hood, grabbed on to the roof rack and punched through the roof ripping a section of it back before reaching in to claw at the driver.

Bonnie screamed and grabbed the vervain soaked towel at her side and held it to the hand that had come through after her. When the vampire screamed in pain and let go she sped up then suddenly stopped to send it flying forward off the car, and then sped up again running it over as she drove frantically out of town. She could already hear the sirens of both police and ambulance.

Alexandra ran to her sister's side, as Damon went to pull Henry out of the road. He could tell by the shriek of horror and rage that Yvette was gone. He handed Henry off to Elena. "Get Matt's truck and take him back to the boarding house. Lock him up down stairs. He's going to be crazed when he wakes up. "He said kneeling beside his lover and pulling her close. "I'll take care of it. "He told her as he turned her face to his. "Look at me." He said wiping the tears from her face. "I'll take care of it."

She nodded and leaned into him a moment before turning her attention back to her sister.

"Stay with her." He told Caroline and took off down the street at a run. He'd never catch up to her this way, there were too many places to turn off the road. He turned off out of sight and lifted into the air, taking the form of his crow. He caught an up draft and soared high above the town scanning the streets until he spotted the car in the distance.

"What happened here?" Liz Forbes asked as she got out of the car. "Caroline, are you alright?" Her daughter might be a vampire but Liz knew all too well how fragile vampires really were under the surface.

Caroline nodded. "It was Bonnie, Mom." She said wiping her own tears away. She didn't know Yvette and wasn't grieving her loss, but the loss of her friend. No matter what happened now there would be no saving Bonnie. Damon had left with murder in his eyes. "She did this on purpose. "

"Alright honey. " She said and knelt beside the body making sure that the woman was actually dead before calling it in. "What was she driving?"

Alexandra looked at Liz for what seemed to her to be an eternity, even though no time had really passed at all. "it was a Silver SUV" she began and the words just kept coming, tumbling from her mouth like water over the falls. She paused occasionally looking around her trying to find Damon, but then she remembered why he wasn't there and started talking again.

Liz gave a worried look to her daughter as she gently touched Alexandra's face. The woman was cold and clammy to the touch and she didn't have to shine a light in her face to see her eyes were dilated. She put in a call for an ambulance as well. "She's in shock. I'm sure she'll be fine, but I want her checked out at the hospital."

Caroline nodded. "Mom… it was Bonnie." She said again. "And Damon went after her. If he catches her he'll kill her. "

Liz swore. "I'll go after them." She said. "You stay here and make sure she gets into that ambulance. I'll take statements later… if there is anyone left to prosecute."

Damon pulled up the fog, forcing her to slow down on the winding roads just enough to allow him to land on the car, hopping twice he reached the hole Henry had made and slid inside. He tore at her with his talons, pecked at her head, listening to her scream. It had been far too long since he had heard the terror in someone's voice, since he'd smelled the fear as the endorphins and adrenaline filled their blood. He had every intention of enjoying this.

Bonnie lost control of the car and it sped off the road. It flipped on its side. The fiberglass screeched in protest until it came to a halt, lying on the driver's side. She fought against the crow, trying to get loose from the seat belt at the same time. She felt something wet beneath her fingers and she grasped the towel lashing out at the giant bird, wrapping it in the vervain soaked cloth and tossing it into the back of the SUV.

She wasted no time climbing out the passenger's side and then jumping to the ground. Looking around she saw no choice but to head into the woods and hope to find cover there.

Damon nearly succumbed to the vervain. He was woozy when he shifted back to human form to escape the towel. "Bitch." He said as his head cleared and he kicked out the back hatch. He stood in the road just listening, and then he smiled. "There you are." He breathed and began to follow. He had no desire to be quick this time.

The fog thickened and he moved quickly through it, sensing the forest and what was in it more than seeing. He found her and sped around to be in front of her as she ran. Bonnie backed away and started running to the left, to the right, no matter, he was there instantly.

"I haven't ripped anyone's throat out in months. I'm looking forward to this. You don't mind if I savor the moment do you?" He said, a slow wicked smile spreading across his face.

"You would be dead if it weren't for me." Bonnie said, and started running again, only to find him blocking her path once more.

"True, and normally that would put me in a much more forgiving mood. " He said "That and I really hated that bitch. On the other hand however, you did it in front of Alexandra. You mowed down her sister right in front of her. I just can't find it in me to forgive that. Sorry. Still going to have to rip your throat out. "

He lunged forward gripping her throat and pressing her back against the nearest tree.

Bonnie attempted in vain to cause him pain, her powers didn't seem to work on him and she screamed in frustration as much as fear.

"Yeah, since your attempt at making Stefan your little magical pawn, I've been adding rowan to my diet. The crow likes the berries so it all works out." He said forcing her head to the side, exposing her jugular.

Bonnie struggled in his grasp. "No." She said clawing at his face. "No!"

"Still Alexandra does have her little rules." He said. "no leaving bodies all over the country side, no bringing home take out." He said leaning his head in closer to her throat, pressing his fangs against her throat. He pulled back a little then. "Do you think she'll forgive me? " He asked next to her ear.

"Go ahead." Bonnie said tightly. "Go ahead Damon. Kill me. Your witch is dead. There is no way you can defeat Klaus now without killing him. " She said "So go ahead.

Witch? He thought and pulled back to look into her eyes.

"Damon." Liz said aiming a rifle at him.

"Go away Liz. This doesn't concern you. It's vampire business." He said not bothering to look her way.

"I can't let you kill her."

"She ran her down like a dog. Right in front of Alex. Have you ever watched someone you love die, Liz " Damon said, not looking away from Bonnie's face. "Did Caroline tell you what she did to Tyler? That she tried to kill her and Elena? I'd be doing the town a favor and you know it."

"None of that matters right now. I can't let you kill her." She said firmly. "Don't make me shoot you. You're my friend but I will shoot you if I have to. Death isn't always the answer. There are other ways to deal with our problems than killing people. "

He looked over his shoulder to glare at her then turned his head back to Bonnie. "Fine." He looked the girl over and a slow smile spread across his face. "You've been Klaus's bitch for a while now. He wouldn't let you use vervain. It takes away too much of his control. " He locked gazes with her and leaned in close, ignoring the sound of the rifle cocking behind him. The more he whispered the wider her eyes became until finally she began to shriek. He let her go then, as she fell to the ground, screaming in terror and sobbing.

"What did you do?" Liz asked.

Damon clasped her shoulder. "I took your advice. You were right. There are other ways to deal with our problems. " he said "I really would have liked to rip her throat out though. Six months next week. People are gonna start thinking I've reformed or something. You need my help or can I get out of here?"

Liz looked at him not sure if she was horrified or saddened. "You can go. Alexandra was in shock, they'll have taken her to the emergency room." She said walking over to Bonnie who was curled into the fetal position and sobbing.

Damon called Elena as he walked through the woods. "I need you to get over to the apartment and stick to Avril like glue. Bonnie was trying to take her out not us. "

"Oh god. " She said quietly. "What do I do about Henry?"

He told her where to find the stash of liquid vervain. " Give him a shot of it. It'll keep him out long enough for you to get to Avril. Take her back to the boarding house. I'll bring Alex there when they let her out of the hospital. And where the hell is my brother?"

"I don't know. His phone keeps going straight to voice mail." Elena said.

"Great." Damon said. "Let me know when you get hold of him." He hung up and sped toward the hospital. He was going to need to feed soon. Changing forms took a lot out of him.

"Hey how is she?" He asked softly spotting Caroline coming back to the room with a cup of coffee.

"She's sleeping. They gave her a sedative, and an IV of something to help her. " She looked Damon over and was surprised to see so little blood on him. " Did you…?"

He shook his head. "I was going to. Then your mother showed up and threatened to shoot me." He said with a disapproving look. "No more tattling."

"You really didn't kill her?"

"I really didn't kill her." He blinked as Caroline hugged him. "Hey watch it with that coffee, its hot." He said and put a hand on hers that was holding the coffee. "But I did … sort of drive her a little crazy, not that it was a long trip. "

"Damon!" Caroline exclaimed.

"She ran a woman down. It wasn't self defense, it wasn't to feed, it was to keep us from being able to put lover boy there" He tapped the pendant resting just above her cleavage, "Back into his own body. She did it to protect Klaus." He snapped. "All of you want to pretend you're human, well we're not. We take care of ourselves and we avenge our own. Wake up little girl and smell the b positive. " he said and turned to enter Alexandra's room.

She was asleep but still he could hear the hitching breaths that had not yet quieted. Even though her mind was numbed, her body was still wracked with grief. God what she must be going through, he thought. He couldn't imagine losing Stefan like that. One moment laughing and smiling and the next broken and bloody on the ground and the world was changed forever.

You got used to losing the humans in your life. The people who got sick and old. They died. You accepted it and moved on. But the people that were like you, the people you had known for centuries in some cases those losses came hard.

Damon climbed onto the narrow hospital bed with her and pulled her close. "I've got you," he murmured to her. " Shhhh I've got you."

Julianna Sauveterre opened the armoire and picked up a bottle of vervain, intending to make an evening cup of tea. Vervain and Chamomile were her evening favorites, but a splash of color where there should be none caught her eye. She picked up the long narrow glass box that held three disks within, two of black, and one of deep blood red.

She sank to the floor, unable to draw in breath as the tears fell down her cheeks. She rocked, her arms closed tight around herself as silent sobs racked her body. "My baby…" she repeated whisper soft until she finally screamed under the weight of those two words.

The heavens echoed her cry with one of its own. Thunder clapped over Mystic Falls, and it began to rain.


	32. Chapter 32

**Chapter thirty two**

Katherine sat down behind the professor's desk and turned on his computer while Stefan checked the drawers in the file cabinet and the closet. She frowned when the request for a password came up. She scanned the heavy wooden desk for anything that might give her a clue. Then she pulled out the writing surface above the drawers. "These things always remind me of kitchen cutting boards." She said and smiled "There it is." A 3x5 card was taped into place with a series of names and dates. "You would think someone as intelligent as this guy would be able to remember his kid's names and birthdates."

She began to type them in until finally the right one let her into the computer.

"You'd be surprised." Stefan said coming to stand behind her as she got into Hanlon's email account.

She scanned through them quickly able to read the titles quickly. She paused on any that had no title, included the word book, or merely seemed out of place amongst the endless student emails or reminders of faculty meetings and school policies. "I could never be a teacher. " She said wrinkling her nose. "I would be completely bored and eating my students in a week."

He chuckled, "Let's just find the book and you can complain about Alex on the way home."

"Oh, she is a teacher isn't she. " Katherine said with a grin, not that she fooled Stefan at all. "Okay… anthropology department. " She indicated the email discussing the nature of the book. She turned off the computer and got up from the chair. She paused as the room lit up brightly with a flash of lightening outside, followed instantly by thunder.

"Yeah I know… doesn't feel natural to me either. " Stefan said leading the way out of the room.

* * *

Jeremy turned on the television and stared at it numbly. The sudden storm was all that was on any of the local net work channels. The storm was spreading across the state with flash flooding closing many of the roads. He was waiting to see something about the hit and run but there was nothing. Not that he was surprised. It was supernatural related and therefore kept hush hush and would later be spun to be some drunk driver.

Sheriff Forbes had told them that Bonnie was being taken to the hospital but it looked like her mind was gone. Had they done that to her when they'd locked down the witch house? Or was it something Damon had done out of vengeance. It didn't matter either way, he'd lost someone else.

His cell phone rang and he picked it up. "I'm home, I'm fine, don't hover." He told his sister before she could say anything else.

"Why don't you stay at the boarding house with us tonight? There's safety in numbers." Elena said.

"Safety from what? Bonnie isn't going to come after anyone anymore." He said bitterly.

"She was working for Klaus, Jeremy. I don't know why but she was. We don't know who else he has working for him."

Jeremy sighed. "I can't deal with Alex or Damon right now. I'll be fine."

"They aren't here yet. Alex hasn't been released from the hospital yet. Look, at least go to Matt's." She said worriedly.

"I'll think about it." Jeremy said. "Let me know how she's doing when you hear something but… I'm gonna go. Talk to you later." He said and hung up.

Elena sighed and went to sit down beside Avril on the sofa. She had called Meredith earlier. She thought perhaps they could set up Henry the way they had Damon while he was healing with a steady flow of blood and vervain until the worst passed. She was beginning to think the doctor was going to need to give Avril something as well.

Not that she was surprised. She'd not only lost a sister but her twin. She couldn't begin to imagine that. Neither did she want to. Not really. She understood loss. It seemed like it had been her constant companion since her parents had died. She didn't need to truly understand that it could actually be worse.

She dialed Stefan's number again and sighed as it once more went to voice mail. "Why is your phone off" She muttered, and flinched as the thunder clapped directly over head, simultaneous with the lightening flash. "This storm is giving me the creeps."

"I'd say that mother knows…but she's in New Orleans. The storm wouldn't be here." Avril said quietly. "Perhaps Bonnie… "

"Are you saying this storm was created by a witch? But why?"

"It's not always intentional. Vampires aren't the only ones to get out of control when faced with overwhelming emotions. All creatures do. But some vampires and witches have the ability to control the weather. Emotions create energy and it has to go somewhere. "She was numb. Part of her was gone and she kept reaching out for it, hoping to find something there but there was nothing where Yvette used to be.

* * *

Liz entered the examination room where Damon and Alexandra were resting. "Bonnie is in the psychiatric ward here for evaluation. We both know she isn't going to get any better." She said to Damon. "Why would you do that?" She asked, trying to understand.

Damon eased his arm out from under Alexandra and then off the bed. "Because she's a witch," He said bluntly. "You can't keep her locked up by conventional means. Even if you could you can't stop her from using her magic. You can't toss rowan into the entire states water supply any more than you can vervain."

"I can't help feeling that it was over kill." She said.

"Why? Because she isn't undead? " He snapped.

"Damon…"

"No I get it. If it's a vampire by all means kill it when it becomes a threat. But anything else we have to protect?" He shook his head. "It was okay for her to get away with murder because she used an SUV instead of fangs?"

"I don't believe that way anymore. You know that." She said sadly.

"I wouldn't have been able to complete killing her with you there so I had to do something to neutralize the threat. I can't remove a witches powers but I can make it a nightmare to use them. That's what I did. It's not my fault that she doesn't take the hint and stop trying."

"Did she really put Klaus in Tyler's body?"

Damon nodded. "She was also trying to push Stefan to kill Alexandra; making him think that she was hurting me somehow. She would have succeeded if the Mikaelsons hadn't decided they wanted a closer look at my insides. "

Liz looked at him in confusion.

"Long story. Doesn't matter. Vampire business." Damon said.

"That's something else we're going to have to talk about. You can't shut me out with two words, Damon. Vampire Business doesn't fly. "

"If I'm telling you to butt out it's because there is nothing you can do except get yourself killed. Sometimes there are things out there that are too big for a badge and a gun, Liz. You have to accept that."

"No, I don't." She said. "Because my daughter is involved in all of this so called Vampire Business and that makes it my business."

Damon sighed. "Mothers" He said but gave her a half smile.

"I have to tell Carol." She said after a moment.

Damon nodded. "If Klaus comes around it might put her in danger if she can't pull off absolutely that she believes its Tyler. "

Liz nodded. "I know. I will let her know. Also that she can't tell anyone else. Caroline seems to think that you can put Tyler back in his body, is that true?"

Damon again nodded. "Yes. But we're still working on the details and it will mean setting a trap for Klaus which is not as easy as it sounds."

"Don't underestimate us mere human's Damon. We might be able to help. Especially if he thinks Carol believes him. "

He sighed. "I'll see what we can come up with. The ball might be the best place to lay the trap. But I don't know if they're going to be up to it by next weekend. "He said looking back over at Alex who was stirring restlessly. He stroked her hair and she settled back into sleep.

Liz nodded."In the mean time I'll put out the cover story that Bonnie had been slipped an hallucinogen at a party and that's why she's in the mess she's in." She sighed. "They're just kids, Damon."

"As my brother pointed out recently, at their age I was fighting a war. They're stronger than you give them credit for."

"And more fragile than you realize." She countered.

"That has nothing to do with age."

* * *

Katherine knew well where the anthropology department was. Isobel Saltzman's office was still functioning even if the woman no longer existed. "Comparative folklore" she said. "This is where it's most likely to be. "

"Here's hoping the girl taking over the department isn't still around. She came close to perforating Elena with a cross bow thinking she was you."

"If she missed Elena she can't be all that good a shot."

"She didn't exactly miss. Damon got in the way."

"Really? And the girl is still alive? Damon really is slipping." Katherine said disapprovingly.

"Elena brings out the best " He chuckled a little " And the worst in Damon."

"That's exactly the sort of woman he wants. I'd watch out if I were you." She said as she picked the lock and opened the door.

"I don't have anything to worry about." Stefan said. "From either of them. Elena made her choice and Damon has someone else in his life now. "

"Damon isn't in control of himself. Eventually Alexandra will move on and he's going to be alone and hurting and he'll go for Elena. You know I'm right."

"Actually I don't" He said stepping into the office. "well this isn't going to be an easy place to search." He sighed, looking around at the piles of books and papers on the desk and the heavily laden shelves.

"Chances are it's in the top layer somewhere. " Katherine said. "They're insidious you know." She looked through the top layer of papers.

"I presume you are talking about necromancers again. I get that you have prejudices. I think we probably all should. In general they are a threat but she's not like that."

"She's not?" Katherine said. "I didn't just abandon the two of you. I found Damon a little less than a year after you were turned."

_1865_

_Katherine followed the couple through the streets of Portland Oregon. She should have known that Damon would get into trouble if left on his own but she had thought he would be more worried about protecting his younger brother than finding adventure. She had never expected him to get in this deep. She was careful to stay out of line of sight, listening to them as they talked._

_"Why are we here?" Damon asked looking around him. "This town is younger than I am. What could you possibly find here that's lucrative?"_

_Alexandra laughed softly. "The city yes but the settlement has been here longer. We're not here for business. I'm here to meet with an old friend. We won't be long."_

_"Good. I'm already bored." Damon said._

_" Hmmm…Can't have that." She said._

_"You're mocking me. Mockery is my job. You're in charge of ghostly research and being commanding. I'm in charge of protecting you and being sardonic. We really need to keep those job descriptions straight. Otherwise everything descends into chaos."_

_"You like chaos."_

_"I like causing you chaos." He amended._

_"I can fix that." She said in a deceptively neutral tone. One that Damon took as a warning to shut up before he went too far. Alex checked them into the hotel in one room. He was listed as her husband._

_Katherine climbed the stairs to the open balcony that ran the length of the second floor of the hotel and waited to hear their voices before moving closer in and watching._

_Damon sat on the bed. "So who is this friend we're going to meet?" He asked._

_"I'm going to meet a friend of my father's. You can't come with me." She said as she picked out a clean dress from her bags and began to change._

_"Why not?" he asked lying on his side and watching her. There were certain perks to his current situation, and he wasn't above taking what pleasure he could._

_"Because you don't behave," She said laughing, "and Alastair isn't one to tolerate a mouthy vampire."_

_"Another necromancer then?" He asked getting off of the bed to help her with her corset strings. "So are you leaving me behind to protect me or your dignity."_

_"Both. He's very old fashioned, and I don't feel like crushing your will just to keep you from being bored for an evening. Neither of us would enjoy it." She said as he finished. "thank you."_

_"So what do I do? Stay here and play watch dog ?"_

_"You can go out. Just no hunting. The last time I left you to your own devises we had to leave town quickly the following day. So no hunting. "_

_"I keep telling you it's a bad plan to let me get bored." He said going to sit down again. No hunting meant she gave him what he needed to survive. It meant room temperature blood at best. At worst it meant she'd bring him blood from the butchers and he'd have to gag it down._

_"We aren't staying long. I promise we'll find somewhere more fun to go when we leave here." Alex said, picking up her cloak. It was starting to rain. "I'll be back soon."_

_Damon nodded and lay back on the bed staring at the ceiling. "I'll be here. " He said with a bored sigh._

_Katherine waited until she saw the woman leave the hotel and cross the street below. She opened the balcony door and stepped into the room and said his name._

_"Katherine…" He said breathed, and moved off the bed to her side quickly. "You're here." He took her face in his hands, a bright smile crossing his face, for the first time in nearly a year. He kissed her hungrily pressing her back against the wall. "You're really here."_

_"I'm here." She said closing her arms around him. "And you have gotten yourself in serious trouble. How did you wind up with a necromancer?"_

_Damon rested his head against hers. "Bad choice of entrée," He admitted. "I don't want to talk about her. I don't want to talk about any of it. I just want you."_

_"Not here." She said and worried at the look of panic that crossed his eyes briefly. Katherine remembered then how young he truly was. She placed her hands at either side of his face. "She said you can leave. So that's what we're going to do. Come on."_

"Two things. One, that is nothing in the grand scheme of things. I've done worse to people over the years and making Damon not hunt, not necessarily a bad thing all things considered. Two, Damon was convinced you were in the tomb when he arrived. He came to Mystic Falls to save you from the tomb. " Stefan said sitting down to look through a few things he found on the desk. "Why is it he doesn't remember this tender reunion?"

"You might want to ask his girlfriend about that." Katherine said finding a few things that looked promising toward her own research and put them in a box.

"So what's the rest of the story?" Stefan asked.

"We left. Running as you can well imagine. We managed to stay ahead of her for a week." She said. "And I was hand feeding him the whole time. Their rules don't go away. He wasn't able to hunt again until she gave him permission."Katherine told him. "I don't know how she found us. I've never been able to figure out how they track their victims. But she found us, and forced him to leave with her."

"You couldn't stop her?"

"There were two of them. Her and this guy named Alastair. They cornered us in an abandoned farm house."

"Abandoned? " He raised an eyebrow.

"Well it was after we ate the owners. " She shrugged. "Damon couldn't move. She just said the words be still and he couldn't move. I still remember the look on his face." She shook off the mood like water off a ducks back. "Anyway I couldn't fight both of them. I doubt I could have even successfully fought off one. "

"So you abandoned him… again." Stefan said.

"What would you expect me to do?"

"The same thing you always do, Katherine. Protect your own skin." He said. "Found it." He sighed with relief and put the book as well as any that were in the stack with it, into the box. "Let's get out of here. "

"I didn't just abandon him." She said sensing the sudden return of disapproval in Stefan.

He gave her a disbelieving look. "Can we talk about this in the car?"

_1865_

_It had taken several days to find where they were keeping him. His room was easily located. The windows were boarded up. As if that would keep a vampire secure. Then again one under a necromancers spell was kept secure just by their will alone._

_She waited and watched the house and eventually the two necromancers left together. It was then that she moved in, pulling the boards from the window and climbing inside. As expected she found Damon. He was lying on the bed, hands grasping the head board._

_"Come on lets go." She said._

_"I can't." He said quietly, stunned that she had actually come for him a second time. "You shouldn't be here."_

_Katherine sat on the side of the bed, her hand on his chest. "What was the command?"_

_"To hold on to the head board. If the bed falls apart I'm not to leave the room. She knows me too well. She's starting to be more precise and using multiple commands, "he grumbled._

_"Fine, I'll incapacitate you and drag you out. It won't be your choice or actions then."_

_"She has my ring." Damon said. "I just… we… You have to go before they come back. Give me time… she'll trust me again. I'll make her trust me again."_

"And you abandoned him… again. No wonder he wasn't willing to be forgiving when you turned up in Mystic Falls." Stefan said as they pulled into the hotel parking lot. They weren't going home tonight. The roads were undrivable.

"Hello, he doesn't remember."

"Funny thing about the brain, the information is still in there. Even if you don't actively remember it." Stefan said "You stay in the car while I get us a room."


	33. Chapter 33

**Chapter thirty three**

Elena looked up as the door of the boarding house opened and a rain soaked Damon and Alexandra entered the house. She remembered all too clearly the endless people asking if she was okay when her parents had died. Of course she hadn't been okay. How could she have been okay? So she didn't ask. She simply went to the older woman and pulled her into a hug. "I've got water on for tea, do you want some?" She asked.

Alexandra simply nodded. She was still feeling the effects of the ativan and just wanted to sit down. So she allowed Damon to lead her over to the sofa next to Avril.

He then followed Elena into the kitchen. He filled her in on what was happening with Bonnie and what he had done. Damon expected the girl to lose her temper. Bonnie had been her best friend since they had been very small. Their mothers had been best friends. It was a tight bond. He knew that.

Instead she simply nodded. "Thank you. For not killing her." She said instead.

"Don't thank me. If I'd had my way she'd be dead and I would be back to day one tomorrow." He said. "So any word from my absentee brother?"

Elena made a frustrated growling sound. "He and Katherine are stuck out at Duke because of the storm. They're getting a room tonight. Please don't tease about it."

"I wasn't going to." Damon said. "You okay? No need to fly out into the night and save Stefan from the clutches of the wicked Katerina?"

"No. I'm okay. I'm just going to have to trust that he can protect himself and wait for the rains to stop."

"That's my girl" Damon said. "I saw Meredith's car out front."

"She's down stairs hooking Henry up to a blood and vervain IV. " She said. "He's not taking it well. You would think he would be relieved."

"Part of him is." Damon said. "I've been lucky. Alex and I… we do this dance every few decades. I get out of control… more so than you've seen, yes it's possible." He grinned a little. "And either she swoops in and saves me from my homicidal rages or I call her and she … saves me from my homicidal rages. Regardless, she always reverses it. It's easy that way. The ability to control me just goes away. I don't have any after effects and it never lasts that long to begin with. Henry on the other hand has been a slave for well… longer than I've been a vampire and Yvette was more traditional than Alex. He was an animal to be used and abused by her and nothing more. "

"All the more reason to be glad to be free."

"Except the bond also created a need to protect her, to make her happy, to… love. And the hell of it is that you know it. You know it isn't real but it's more powerful than anything you've ever felt before. Now after all this time, that's suddenly gone, and it's gone because he failed to protect her. Honestly, I'll be surprised if we don't have to put him down." He'd experienced those feelings before, but it had been Katherine he'd rather have died than live without.

Elena sighed. "Makes me glad that Bonnie was wrong about you and Alex," She said.

"I'm gonna go check on her again."

"Is she gonna be okay?" Elena asked.

"Eventually." He said leaving the kitchen. "Hey, why don't you two go and get some sleep upstairs." He told the sisters. "Tea can wait for morning." He thought for a moment Alex would protest but then she nodded and took Avril's hand. "My room is open. I'll be keeping watch tonight."

Alex nodded again and led the way. She doubted she'd be truly sleeping no matter how medicated she was, but she and Avril both needed away from all the sympathetic stares and consoling hands. She attempted to smile her appreciation to Damon as she went up the stairs.

* * *

Stefan put the possibly poison book into a plastic bag and sat down near the window, watching it rain.

"I'm not going to molest you. You can come to bed." Katherine told him as she came out of the shower and climbed into bed. "I'll respect your engagement."

"It's not that." He said smiling a little sadly. "I just got off the phone with Elena. Alex's sister Yvette was murdered tonight. Bonnie ran her down with her car."

"Why would she do that? Yvette's the necromancer right? She's no threat to Klaus, they need a witch to put Tyler back ."

"She and the Witch in the family are identical twins." He said. "Apparently she didn't see Henry until it was too late. I don't know. I don't have all the details. Elena took Henry back to the house, and Damon took off after Bonnie. She hasn't heard from him since. I'll call him a little later and find out how Alexandra and Avril are doing."

"I'm gonna get some sleep." She said. "Don't stay up all night worrying. They'll be fine. They always are."

Stefan nodded and she turned out the light. He didn't need the light to read by .He was a creature designed to live in the darkness after all. He looked through the pages of translation and wondered if his mother really could have been a creature that dark and twisted. Had she kept a vampire enslaved and mute? Why didn't he remember her? Or had she resided elsewhere, perhaps even within the slaves quarters where he wouldn't have been able to sort her out from the other servants. Not that he or Damon had known what to look for then. Was his father a murderer?

He glanced over at Katherine and listened for the sounds of her sleeping, then picked up his cell phone and called Damon.

"About time you called." Damon said instead of hello.

"Busy day." Stefan said. "How's Alex?" He asked.

"Strung out on Ativan at the moment but she'll be okay eventually." Damon sighed. "Unfortunately I didn't kill the little witch. Liz showed up and I couldn't have done it before she shot me, so I rewired her head instead. She's going to be in the booby hatch until I get over being angry."

Stefan scoffed. "You'll still be angry when she's been in the grave a hundred years." He knew his brother too well.

"Yeah, you're probably right. Just as well with our luck we'll need her for something." Damon said rolling his eyes. "So spill brother, why did you disappear in the middle of the night over to Katherine's? Are you insane? "

"I started remembering things." Stefan said.

"Remembering things in a good way or remembering things like someone let you have your memories back. Last time that happened you found out you were Klaus's hero and drinking buddy. You don't have a good track record there, Stef."

"Just remembering conversations with Katherine." He said. "And how she would ask a lot of questions about Mom."

Damon sighed. "Yeah, now that I think about it, she did come up in conversation more than I liked. I love our mother, but the thought of her can be a real buzz kill when you're in bed with a beautiful woman."

Stefan laughed quietly."I can imagine." He wondered if Damon realized he'd said that in the present tense.

"So you thought of Katherine and Mother, and went over to chat her up? Were you looking for another maternal based conversation? This is like pulling hens teeth here. Give me something to work with."

"I went over because I wanted answers. Apparently she was in a more talkative mood." Stefan outlined what he had found out about Katherine's motives for being in Mystic Falls the first time. "Of course this is also based on Katherine's veracity. She also told me stories about how she found you and Alex once in1865 and tried to save you from her."

Damon laughed. "Trust me, if she had been there I would have known."

"That's what I thought." Stefan said. "But this book… I'm pretty sure Mother at least had possession of it." He told Damon. "The professor that Katherine gave it to for translation died today. I won't know for sure until tomorrow but I think it was poison. He had the same symptoms Mother did." He frowned at the silence on the other end. "Damon?"

"Now do you understand?" He said tightly. "Do you understand why I hated him so much."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Stefan asked.

"You were twelve. " Stefan said. "What was I supposed to say, hey sorry kid, your mom just died and guess what your Dad did it. He's been slowly poisoning her for years. Yeah cause that would go over well. Ironic that you were the one to kill him. I envied you that… when I wasn't throwing up."

"Yeah you didn't do so well with the thought of blood in the beginning." Stefan said.

"Unlife and its little ironies." Damon said. "Other than confirming that Katherine is a consummate liar, what else have you discovered on your trip. "

"We ended up going through the comparative folk lore department looking for the book, found a few other things on necromancers and witches… I haven't had a chance to really look through it all yet. I figured I'd wait and go over it with Alex since she'd have a better idea about what's real and what's just propaganda of the era."

"Yeah, just … get that book home. I'll put it up for safe keeping with the disk." Damon said rubbing at his temple. He had a nasty headache forming.

"Hmmm… Something else that occurred to me." Stefan said. "When Elena found the Klaus pendant, for lack of a better word. It was black. Once they put Tyler in there it turned red." He pointed out. "I think there is someone in that disk we found."

"maybe, or it's just a chunk of rock from one of mothers gardens." Damon said. "Either way it's on the back burner for now." He said and sat down on the sofa.

"Agreed. About the back burner part anyway." Stefan said. "you sound tired. I'm gonna let you go."

"Yeah. Stay out of trouble out there. Saving your hide is not the way I want to get in between Elena and Katherine. " Damon said.

"You don't want to get in between them at all."Stefan said laughing.

"You have to admit, it's visually appealing."

"Good night Damon." Stefan said still amused. He hung up.

It was still raining come morning, as Damon sat in the chair beside his bed in his old room, watching over Alexandra and her surviving sister. He hadn't bothered to sleep the night before. He'd been too keyed up. The conversation with Stefan hadn't helped.

"Hey Beautiful." He said quietly as Alex stirred in the bed.

"I thought I was cuddled up to someone with the wrong configuration." She said quietly, easing out of the bed, and going to curl up in Damon's lap.

He kissed her brow and held her close. "I love you." He told her.

"You too," She said. Her eyes were still misting over with tears. "I want to kill him but I can't."

"I can identify. But as someone pointed out last night there are other ways to deal with things. And you know… there are worse things than death. I say we put him in that pendant and melt the key." Damon said. "And what happens from there… depends on how much Tyler says he could sense while in there."

"I like that plan." She said and laid her head on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry I got you into this." He said softly.

"You didn't." She said. "They chose to stay. I chose to stay. You aren't the author of all the evil in the world, my love."

"I know it's too soon to think about it, but I think the ball is the best time to lay a trap. If he's in the area it will be a draw. Especially with Caroline going."

"It's never too soon for a healthy case of vengeance. " She said. "And I have a promise to keep anyway."

"When this is over, let's get out of here. Just leave town for a while, come back when the house is finished. I think it's time to shake the dust off."

She nodded. "If you're sure."

"I'm sure." There were too many ghosts in mystic falls. He was ready to leave it behind again.

* * *

"You're mad at me." Katherine said staring at Stefan, arms folded across her chest.

"I'm not mad at you." He said packing up the reference materials he had been looking at.

"You're not talking to me."

"I just spoke."

"That's not the same and you know it." Katherine said.

He looked over at her. " I talked to Damon last night. Either you are lying to me, or someone has messed with his head and you abandoned him twice over to save your own hide. Neither of which puts you on my happy list at the moment."

Katherine glared at him. "Fine, give me my book and you can leave. I'll find my own way back to Mystic Falls when this storm has died down. "She held out her hand.

"Technically it's my book. Mine and Damon's since it was our mother's."

"You have no proof it was hers. It could have just been left there by any number of guests that came through."

"We both know this is my mother's book. I recognize the handwriting." Stefan said.

"Are you really willing to consider that you are from a necromancer bloodline? That the two of you could have become monsters if I hadn't turned you."

"Yes to the first, no to the second. I'm not a monster now. Why would I have become one just because I had the power to control the dead?" He said stuffing a hotel towel into the box to protect the papers inside. "I appreciate the help Katherine. I do. If you want a ride back to town since it's your car I'll drive you. But we're going now."

"Fine but if we get stuck on the side of the road for days on end and I get hungry, you're the one I'm eating."

Stefan laughed and headed out to the car, putting the box in the trunk where Katherine's hands would be nowhere near it. He unlocked her door and went to the driver's side to get in.

"I wasn't lying." Katherine said as she fastened her seat belt. "And it turned out okay. I mean… he at least thinks he's in love with her and happy." Her tone gave away exactly what she thought of that.

"You had no way of knowing how it would turn out. For all you knew she could have turned him into little more than a zombie." Stefan said. "You're not winning points."

"I'm not looking for points this isn't a game to me." She insisted. "I saw what your mother did to my friend. I know what they're like. I'm sorry I couldn't save him from her. I tried. But I wasn't about to become one of her minions when there was nothing I could do to save him."

"No third attempt? No giving him time to win back her trust?" Stefan asked pointedly.

"I couldn't find them again." She said, although there was something off in her tone and Stefan didn't miss it. "And when I saw Damon next he was flying solo."

"And you didn't say anything then either."

"No, I didn't. I was trying to keep a low profile. If he'd still been enthralled I would have tried again but he wasn't so I didn't. It was a century and a half ago. Let it go Stefan." She looked over at him. "So you two are really pulling the brother act again huh? No more fighting? No more sabotaging each other's plans?"

"So far we're doing well." Stefan said. "I screwed up big time but he's forgiven me. So … we're doing well."

"So what are you going to do with the book?"

"I don't know but it's not leaving our hands. It's killed two people. I'm not going to let there be a third." He told her.

"I'm a vampire. The only thing poisonous to us is Vervain."

"That we know of." Stefan said. "One thing I am learning from this endless drama is that we don't know jack about anything. Even Elijah is missing a few key points along the way. "

"Okay. So what's the plan with Klaus?"

"We have to figure out a way to contain him, not only in place but in his human form, without anyone being bitten so that Avril can cast the spell for the gem stone. I'm hoping there is something in mother's book that will help. He's undead so there might be." The one thing he could count on Katherine for was being on board with anything anti-Klaus.

Katherine nodded. "We never seem to have a chance at an easy shot at him do we?"

"The one time we did Elijah wimped out. Just as well. It would have killed us all." Stefan said.

"There are days it might have been worth it but … no." She said.

"Yes, we all know you are not a sacrificial lamb." Stefan said.

"Hey! I have come through for you when you needed me." Katherine said firmly. "For you and for Damon, even if you don't believe me. Just because I could care less about Elena's little family or the friends you pick up along the way doesn't mean that I don't still love you, Stefan."

"I don't think you know what that word means." He said.


	34. Chapter 34

**Chapter thirty four**

It was early evening when Stefan got home and dismissed Katherine in the driveway. He found Alex sitting on the sofa in the parlor staring into her cup of coffee. "Hey. " He said setting the box down on the table. "How are you holding up?"

"I'm alright. Or at least as alright as I can be." She said honestly. "I heard you had an adventure."

Stefan chuckled. "Something like that. Look, I know you're dealing with a lot but I just wanted to give you a heads up." He said. "Katherine is up to something. She was telling me lies about how she found you and Damon and tried to save him or something."

"Depending on what she told you it might be the truth." Alex said.

"You wiped it from his memory?" He asked not sure how angry he should or shouldn't be at the moment.

She nodded. "With good reason. "

"What happened?" He asked.

Her story mirrored Katherine's to an extent. "We weren't friends yet at this time, Stefan. I'm not proud of how I handled things over all … anyway… He was livid. Completely out of control. He'd been with me almost a year at this point and he had never fought me as hard as he did after I found him with her." Her opinion of Katherine was evident in the word Her. " We'd found a cabin up in the foot hills and the only way I could contain him well enough to get Alastair to leave was to force him to stay on the bed and not leave the room even if he managed to break the damned bed. You know him… he would have tried."

Stefan nodded in agreement. His usual amusement lost.

"I went to see him off just before dawn, I'd boarded up the windows in Damon's room because I had taken his ring after recapturing him so that if he got away again he wouldn't get far. Alastair and I wound up talking too long, and it was already light when I got back to the cabin, and I could hear him screaming."

Stefan's brow furrowed.

"She had taken the boards off of the window and left him there to die." Alexandra said. "I got him covered and out of the room. He was a mess, in pain emotionally and physically. I had to force him to feed. He'd given up at that point. Completely despondent. Can't blame him. The woman he loved more than anything tried to kill him, and not in a gentle way."

"So you made him forget. You were already in love with him. "

She nodded. " I had been for months. As far as he knows he had escaped on his own, and when I found him again, I kept him tied up for three days as punishment for escaping. He has no memory of her ever being there. "Alex said. "It really is in her best interest that she stays away from me. "

"I'll make sure she gets that message. So it's not a jealousy problem then."

She laughed. "Now, no. Before yes." She admitted. "I know that he doesn't love her any more. I just also know how much power she has over him. "

"Speaking of my brother, where is he?"

"He went with Avril to pick up a few things. She's going to move into Elena's since Klaus has never been invited in over there."

Stefan nodded. "A good plan over all. Although I think you could lighten up on the anti-witch protection at your place now. "

"I could. But it's still only a one bedroom cabin." She said with a faint laugh that she didn't really feel.

* * *

Damon carefully packed away Yvette's tools and supplies. He remembered doing this for Alex when they would pack up to relocate. Back when he had genuinely been her thrall he'd done all manner of grunt work for her. Digging up the graves, filling them in, hauling and packing her things, anything she could come up with for him to do, he did. It was still ingrained how to deal with the tools of the trade including the ones that could cause him harm with a single misstep.

He found a ring box sitting on the counter and looked within, as he did with all the others, making sure of what he was dealing with. Two rings, bone and silver intertwined. One for a man, one for a woman.

"Those are for you and Alexandra."Avril said having packed up the last of her belongings. Neither of them had come with much really. "She mentioned they came in the mail from Mother. They're beautiful."

He nodded. "Yeah. They are." He pocketed the ring box as he finished with Yvette's workspace. "How is your mother holding up?" He asked.

"Not well. But she approves of your handling of the situation." Avril said. "She says death even at the hands of an angry vampire would have been too kind."

"Gentle soul there, your mom." He said laughing softly. "At least I have her approval about something."

"I don't think anyone has ever made that allusion before." She said almost smiling. "Gentle and Julianna Sauveterre are words seldom found in the same sentence. And I wouldn't worry about my mother's opinion. Alex doesn't."

" Easy to say. " Damon said. "She might not let it change her mind, but it affects her. No way it can't." He knew a thing or two about overbearing parents out to control your life. He hated his father with every fiber of his being, but he still hurt under the man's constant disapproval.

"She can handle it." Avril said.

"You ready to go?" He asked and she nodded. "I'll haul this out to the car and we'll head over to Elena's."

* * *

Meredith changed out the blood bag, and added the piggyback of a vervain saline mix. Probably wouldn't be kind to the human body but vampires were a different matter entirely. It was effectively putting him into a medically induced coma.

Alex was her best friend but looking over her latest patient she was glad that Yvette was gone. It took a lot of work to scar a vampire's body. Even the ritual performed on Damon had only left the faintest of scars. The same line could be seen on Henry but it was thick and wide.

She wasn't sure how long this was feasible or even fair to the vampire. But she supposed it was easier on them to deal with their own grief before dealing with Henry's. Still didn't feel right in the long run. Damon had tried to explain it to her but she didn't really understand the whole vampire-necromancer pseudo slavery thing. It seemed that everything revolved around power and who had it in that world.

She packed up her bag and went upstairs. She smiled seeing Stefan back. "Well, he's still asleep. How long do you want me to keep that going?" she asked Alexandra.

"I don't know. I need to get into his head to see what she's done to him and I'm not stable enough to do that without hurting him right now." Alex told her honestly. "I'll be fighting him as it is."

"What if one of us helps?" Stefan asked. "I'm not any good at it, because I limit my intake of human blood. But if he's asleep there is no reason that Damon or Caroline couldn't get into his dreams. Maybe keep him calm and cooperative while you work."

"That's a good idea. I'll try and pull myself together and we can try that tomorrow. If we're going to pass Avril off as Yvette this weekend we're going to need him up and functional. "

"This weekend?" Stefan asked.

"The Founders Ball." Damon said as he entered the house. "If we can find a way to contain the son of a bitch, and he makes an appearance, Carol Lockwood is on board. I got a call from Liz this morning." He said going to sit beside Alex on the sofa.

"Well I'm hoping Mom's book of rites will help us out there. " He said digging the translations out of the box and handing them over to Alex. "I wasn't going to bring this up till you'd had a chance to … process." Stefan said gently.

"I'm French" Alex said. "We're just as vindictive as you Italians. This is processing." She began to flip through the pages, and whistled lowly "this is old school. This is the sort of work my father would have done."

Stefan looked at Damon a moment before continuing. "Professor Hanlon believed that the writer was from the renaissance. He said the language used was ancient Sardinian, but the syntax and whatever else was from the Renaissance."

"Guess Mother really has a handle on that whole aging thing." Damon said, not seeing the look Stefan had given him. "Where's the original?"

"I've got it here. I think the pages are treated with poison though so I don't think Alex should handle it."

"She's not going to. I'm going to put it somewhere no one else can get to it." He told his brother.

Stefan nodded and handed the book over to his brother.

"This might work." Alex said looking over the ritual. "It will contain him. But we won't be able to get in there until he desiccates or we hit him with enough vervain to take him down. I won't risk any of you being bitten."

"No argument from me there. The only problem is if we do this at the ball, we're going to have to keep Mrs. Lockwood from letting him out. It's her son's body." Stefan said.

"Then we are just going to have to make her understand that it's the only way to get him out of there and that Tyler isn't feeling any of it." Alex said. "Or we keep her off the vervain and compel her to leave it be. "

"Between now and then we'll work out all the contingencies. " Stefan said and Damon nodded.

"Right now I want to take Alex home so she can rest. We have a lot to do in the next six days. "

"Be careful" Stefan said.

"Who me? I'm always careful." Damon said.

"Says the guy with his own ransom note." Stefan teased.

"Once." Damon said. "It happened once."

"Twice actually." Stefan pointed out.

"Good thing I've sworn off tall blondes." Damon countered and held his hand out to Alexandra. He could have said something hurtful to Stefan in that moment, but it just wasn't worth it. He'd take it too seriously. Or maybe Damon would mean it too seriously. Either way it didn't need to be said.

"I'll go through the rest of the stuff I found and let you know if it looks useful." Stefan said as the couple walked toward the door.

"I appreciate it, thank you." Alex told them and let Damon lead her out into the heavy rain and to the SUV. "If this keeps up they'll wind up canceling the ball."

"You'd be surprised how serious people take their founders events around here. It will come off. Especially with Carol pushing for it. She wants her son back. "

"I don't think the others are ready for what's coming." She said as he started the vehicle.

"Are you?" He asked.

"I will be." Alex leaned back against the seat. "I'll be depending on you heavily, though. "

"Good." He said. "I hate watching from the sidelines."

* * *

Carol reached out and touched the garnet stone that hung from Caroline's neck. She could feel the warmth emanating from it and smiled. "He's really in there." She said bringing her hand to her face.

"We're doing everything we can to put him back where he belongs. I swear." Caroline said taking the older woman's free hand.

"I believe you." She said. "You'll make sure the bastard pays for what he's done to my boy?" Carol asked.

"Yes." Caroline said firmly. "We will." The only thing they couldn't do was destroy the soul because that would destroy them all. But they could trap him and make him miserable.

"I'm glad I was wrong about you." Carol said. "Tyler is lucky to have you in his life."

Caroline smiled. "That means a lot to me. Thank you. I need to go though. Once I know what the plan is I will come back and explain it to you. This has to stay between us. You can't tell anyone else about it."

"Of course not. I wouldn't do anything to jeopardize getting Tyler back. " Carol said, and then walked Caroline and her mother to the door. "Let me know as soon as possible. "

Kol watched the car leave the drive and frowned at Elijah. "Do you still want to sit back and wait?"

"Yes." He said "When they complete their ritual, we retrieve the stone, and have a witch place him in a much more controllable body. It actually works to our favor to have them be successful in their plans."

Kol thought about it then nodded.

Elijah smiled warmly as Carol returned "See, did I not tell you everything would work out in the end."

Carol nodded. "Yes. I never should have doubted you."

* * *

Damon parked the car as close to the door as possible and went around to help her out and hurried for the porch.

"I won't melt I promise." Alex said with a faint smile. She was trying. She knew she couldn't frown and cry all the time. She knew that she had to find moments of happiness again. Even so soon after her sister's death. But it was hard.

Damon smiled a little "there are better ways to be wet all over." He pointed out as he unlocked the door. "Why don't you go get dried off. I'll get a fire started." He said stripping off his wet shirt.

He watched after her worriedly as she left the room. It was easy to forget just how human she really was sometimes. "Have you eaten yet?" He called out as the fire took and the kindling began to crackle.

"I'm not hungry. You go ahead though." She answered from the bedroom.

He frowned but went to the kitchen to get a mug of dinner and a bottle of wine and two glasses. He set these on the hearth as well as the ring box before going into the bed room to change into dry pants. "I've got wine by the fire."

"Sounds good." She said. "I'm going to turn into a lush at this rate." She tried to tease.

"Nah, I do most of the drinking. You're fine." He offered his hand and she took it. With his free hand he snatched the down comforter up and brought it with them, spreading it out in front of the fire place.

Alexandra settled down comfortably, and reached over to grab a throw pillow from the sofa. "Remember that cabin in Colorado?" She asked. "The one with that terrible seventies shag carpet."

"Do you remember not thinking that it was terrible at the time?" Damon asked in return.

"Well, not until I had the imprint of all those threads in my back side." She laughed a little. "I don't think we used the bed the entire time we were there. "

"No reason, the carpet was soft under the blanket, and the fire place was huge. I swear we could have made love in there and never touched any of the sides. Except of course for that whole fire thing."

"We've wasted a lot of time, haven't we?" She asked softly.

"We have all the time in the world." Damon told her.

"Do we?" She asked. "We've both come close to dying since I've come here. How close have we come in the past?"

"We're still here." He said. "And we'll be here tomorrow. And a year from tomorrow."

"You can't promise that, Damon."

"Sure I can. " He said. "And I'll make it happen. I'm sorry she's gone. I am. But I'm not going to let that happen to you."

"It's not me I'm worried about."

"That's a given. Worrying about you is my job. I'm good at it. You really shouldn't take it away from me. I'll get bored. Worse I'll pout. It's not attractive."

She almost laughed. She did smile a little. "Can't have that. A bored Damon is a dangerous thing indeed."

"Finally, someone who understands that." He reached over to pick up the ring box. "I found these at your sisters. Avril confirmed that they are ours. " he opened it up.

"They're beautiful. " She said as he took the smaller of the two out of the box.

He said nothing, didn't look away from her eyes as he picked up her left hand and slid the ring on the second finger.

She drew in a sudden breath and simply nodded yes to the question she found in his eyes. She took the remaining ring in trembling fingers and somehow found his hand. She didn't have to ask if he was sure. She wouldn't have asked even if there was doubt.

Damon leaned forward kissing her tenderly, easing her back onto the blanket, dinner and wine completely forgotten.


	35. Chapter 35

**Chapter thirty five**

Avril couldn't sleep. She could hear Jeremy upstairs pacing his room. She felt for the boy. He didn't know whether to be angry or feel guilty about what had happened. He was young and thought he was in love with the girl. She turned on her computer and loaded up Skype. She needed to talk to Jessica, she needed to feel connected to something normal and real in her life. Nothing seemed real since her sister's death.

215 years she had spent with her sister. Even when they weren't together there was still a connection. It wasn't always a comfortable connection. The natural animosity between Necromancers and Witches made things difficult sometimes; especially when there was too much back lash from one or the other. They didn't have the sort of link they talk about in fantasy novels or science fiction movies. They couldn't read each other's minds, or sense each other's pain, but there had always been a sure and certain knowledge that the other one was there. Now that was gone.

Jessica was in the Pacific Time zone and was more than willing to talk to her lover long into the night, she could sleep later. They talked about Jessica's shop, and the neighbor's cat that kept digging in their flower beds and hunting the squirrels. She kept up the distraction for hours. Until finally… "I can come out there. You don't need to be out there alone after something like this," She said

"No. I don't want you anywhere near this, sweetheart. Alexandra and I can handle this, besides the woman that did it is locked up. I'll be safe." She said.

"It's not just your safety I worry about. " Jessica said quietly. "I want to be there for you."

"With any luck it will be done this weekend and I'll be home." She said. "Can you do me a favor? Alex sent me these pictures of a crypt and the symbology looks familiar. I have a few books there on funerary practices. Can I send you the pictures and have you check it out for me?"

"Sure. I can do that for you." Jessica said.

"Thank you." She said. "I really appreciate it." Avril forwarded the photos to Jessica. "I'll talk to you tomorrow. I'm going to go try and sleep." They exchanged 'I love you''s and Avril closed down her lap top before heading up stairs to the bed room she was borrowing.

Jeremy looked out the door as she walked down the hall. "I'm sorry." He said quietly, as she entered his aunts old room, not really intending her to hear.

* * *

Damon hadn't taken the car when he'd left. He'd gone on foot to Veritas, heedless of the rain that fell in near sheets. He knew the paths well. He'd traveled them his mortal life, short though it had been. The better part of 20 years spent running between the millhouse and his family's home; playing with Stefan, playing tag and much more adult games with the young ladies of the other founding families. Now he walked them without seeing, without feeling. The rich clay soil was slick under foot and he slipped, sliding down the hill before getting back to his feet and continuing on like a sailor drawn forward by sirens song.

He braced himself against trees, as he left the paths for the more direct route. He climbed over dead fall and brambles until he reached his destination. He entered the marble structure and then down the stairs to the crypt.

Damon pushed aside the lid to the sarcophagus and put the book inside next to the disk. "It's ready now, Mother," he said breathlessly, closing it once more. He blinked in exhaustion. "So tired." He muttered.

"Come on, stay awake." Alaric said aloud. "You can't sleep here, Damon. Come on. Wake up."

"Ric… ?"

"Yeah it's me. Come on. Let's go. Alexandra's waiting. She needs you. Let's get you home."

"Just need to rest a minute. " He said dropping to his knees.

"Let him go." Alaric yelled angrily. "He's your son. Let him go." He watched helplessly as Damon collapsed the rest of the way to the floor as his energy left his body. Alaric knelt down beside him. "Just hang on. I'll get help." He moved through space instantly, honing in on the white oak stake.

Alexandra was still sleeping on the floor in front of the fireplace, when Alaric appeared in her home. "Alex, wake up." He said and growled in frustration "Alex, wake up." He said loudly and the woman startled awake.

"What the hell?" She asked as she sat up, pulling the blanket up for modesty.

"We have to go. Damon's in trouble."

She got up and hurried to the bedroom to throw something on. "What kind of trouble?" Alex called out as she wriggled quickly into a pair of jeans.

"He's in the tomb and I think his mother is draining him dry."

The tee-shirt and slip on shoes were next and she was heading toward the door." How is that possible?" She grabbed keys and headed out into the storm running for the car. As soon as she had started it up Ric appeared at her side in the passenger's seat.

"I don't know." He said. "He took the book out and put it in the sarcophagus. Then he just collapsed."

"I've never heard of a ghost of a necromancer being able to do that." She said."They're powerful spirits but …. I don't know. None of this situation is making any sense."

"His mother was a necromancer?" Alaric asked.

"Sorry, found out today and I've been a little out of it." She said as she parked as far onto what used to be known as Veritas as possible. She hurried down the paths she had taken just a few days before. She could feel the presence as she entered the mausoleum. "Damon?" She called out, and got no response as she hurried down the stairs.

He laid on the floor, bent backwards, knees folded under him. His skin was pale, dark veins visible around the eyes spreading through his features. His eyes opened but she didn't think he was seeing anything around him.

"Damon… come on baby. Let's go home." She said easing her arm under his shoulders to bring him to a sitting position. "I can't carry you. You have to help me."

"Just need to rest." He said. His voice was almost too soft to hear.

"Damon, get up." She attempted to command him, and found that was blocked. "The ring. Damn it. Talk about bad timing, "She muttered. "Damon, take off the ring." This was one time she was less than pleased with the added protection her mother had put into it.

He shook his head.

"You take it off and give it to me or I swear to god I will break into that sarcophagus and do what I have to do." She said firmly.

He looked at her, anger in his eyes, but there was no strength behind it. He was fading quickly. He slowly removed the ring she had placed on his finger earlier that night and it slipped from his fingers.

Alex pocketed it, "Damon get up." She ordered and watched as he reluctantly, and with difficulty pulled himself up off of the floor to stand on rubbery legs. "We're going home now." She said pulling his arm over her shoulder and putting one around his waist. She struggled to get him up the stairs as he was one step away from becoming dead weight. The walk to the car was only marginally easier.

"We'll be home soon. You can rest then. I promise." She said buckling him in and closing the door. The windshield wipers weren't keeping up with the sheer volume of water that was falling from the skies. She was driving slowly on the dirt roads as the wheels of the car sunk several inches.

Damon drifted off into a troubled sleep his head pressed against the passenger's side window.

_1854_

_Madelena Salvatore smiled at her son. "She's very pretty isn't she" she said and laughed softly as the 10 year old boy blushed. "It's alright. You can come closer. "_

_"Father says she's contagious and we should stay away." Damon said but stepped closer anyway to look at the girl on the bed. She was older than he was, just coming out of the fresh and glowing teen years and beginning to truly become a woman._

_"No. You can't catch what she has." Madelena said holding her hand out to her son._

_Damon came closer, not noticing as Stefan shadowed him through the door. "What's wrong with her?" He asked standing at his mother's side. "Who is she?"_

_"Sleeping beauty," Madelena said and laughed at the look her son gave her. "She's the daughter of an old friend of mine from before we came to America." She told him. "And she has been through a great deal. What she needs now is just to be at peace until she is ready to return to us."_

_Damon didn't think she looked as though she was sleeping._

_"Did someone hurt her?" Stefan asked more curious about what had his brother's attention than the girl really. He didn't understand girls or why Damon liked them so much. At six, Stefan was much more interested in bugs._

_"No." Madelena said, moving the younger boy away from the bed._

_"Then why doesn't she wake up, cause Daddy said she was asleep when she got here and that's been days and days." Stefan said, willing to talk about anything if it got him his mother's attention._

_Damon rolled his eyes. There were times he hated his brother. He didn't have anything that was his own anymore. Not even his mother._

_"And Miss Victoria said that it's a sleeping sickness and people die of sleeping sickness. Is she going to die, Mama?"_

_Madelena sighed barely keeping the impatience from her voice. "No she isn't going to die, Stefan and it isn't sleeping sickness."_

_"I told you Victoria was stupid." Damon told his brother._

_"Damon that's enough." Giuseppe said sharply, as he appeared at the door. "Take your brother outside."_

_"Yes father." He said tightly and grabbed Stefan by the arm. He pulled the younger boy out of the room. "Go down stairs. I'll meet you on the front porch."_

_"But Damon!"Stefan protested._

_"Shhh! You're gonna get me in trouble. Go down stairs. I'll be there in a minute." He said glaring at his little brother._

_Stefan sniffled but went down the stairs dutifully._

_Damon crept back to the door, peering cautiously around the door frame._

_"I don't like you bringing the boys in here with the body." Giuseppe said. "When are you sending these people on their way?"_

_Madelena adjusted the blanket over the girl. "When I have concluded my business." She said toying with a red stone._

_"I thought we agreed you were through with that when we left Italy."_

_"There was no agreement, Giuseppe, there was merely you giving orders." She said quietly. "This is an arrangement from before I met you. "_

_He appeared to be placated even if unhappy. " Well… be quick about it and keep the boys out of it."_

_"I think you should leave the hospitality of our home to me, as well as my son."_

_"You would do well to remember you have two of them." He told her pointedly._

_Madelena's features went from calm and dispassionate to cold and hard. "I remember very well that you have three. So I suggest you leave me be and tend to your own affairs, before I do."_

_Damon turned and darted for the stairs. He raced down and grabbed Stefan by the arm and dragged him out the door before his father caught sight of him._

Alexandra pulled out onto paved road after what seemed an eternity and gasped as the car hydroplaned on the thick layer of rain water. She stole a glance over at Damon and then turned her attention back to the road, still not able to drive as quickly as she would have liked. She needed to get him home quickly. He needed to feed to regain his strength and she was still taking vervain.

_1856_

_The brothers stood at her bedside, no longer scuffling with each other, no longer competing for her attention. Instead they stood solemn and quiet. Damon stood with his arm around his younger brother, protectively. The dark looks the twelve year old was giving his father went unnoticed by anyone but the woman lying in the bed._

_Madelena sighed and attempted to shoo her husband away. "The doctor says I am improving. I believe him. There have been enough long faces and silence. There will be time enough for that later." She told them. "Where are my smiling sons?" She asked._

_Stefan broke free of his brother and pushed past their father to hug his mother with the exuberance that came of being eight. Exuberance and gullibility, Damon thought. His mother was better because Damon had been switching out her water dutifully. She was being poisoned and he had only two suspects in his mind; his father and the man's mistress Victoria. In either case the blame lay at his father's feet._

_Damon went to the other side of the bed and sat down beside her, ignoring his father completely now. "I promised you, remember." He said smiling for her even if he didn't mean it._

_"So you did." Madelena said with a weak smile. She lay her hand over his. "I can always depend on you."_

Alexandra pulled onto Fell's Church Road and picked up a little speed. The canopy of ancient oaks that lined the road thinned the rain fall enough to make it possible. "We're almost there, Damon. We're almost home, " She said even though she knew he was asleep.

_1857_

_"The boy knows." Victoria said in hushed tones. "There is something about him that scares me, Giuseppe."_

_"It's because he has his mother's eyes and you feel guilty." He told her firmly. "Once Madelena is done he will change. You will see."_

_"Why must it take so long?" She asked. "The woman is a monster. "_

_"You seem to be under the mistaken impression that I am doing this for you." Giuseppe Salvatore said. " I love my wife. I will always love my wife. I'm doing this because it's the only way to protect the boys from what she is. To stop her from turning them into what she is."_

_Damon was pressed against the wall just outside the door. Liar, he thought. You don't love her. You don't torture people you love. What his father was doing to her was torture. He was sickened as their conversation turned to Victoria's bastard son. His supposed brother. He left before he said something he'd have to pay for later and went to his mother's rooms. He didn't knock. He rarely did anymore because the days she was too weak to answer outnumbered the ones where she could in spite of his best intentions and hard work to keep her safe._

_He found her seated by the window, staring out at the gardens below. "We have to leave here. We'll pack up Stefan and go." Damon said insistently. "I won't let him kill you."_

_"I will be fine no matter what he does," She said, calmly. "Preparations have been made and nothing he does will harm me for long. I need you to believe that."_

_"I heard him plotting with Victoria. She's already trying to pick your bones. I won't have it." Damon yelled. "We have to get you out of here before they actually succeed."_

_"Shhh," She said and took his hand pulling him around to sit on the ottoman. "Look at me." Madelena said. "You have to trust me, Damon. I cannot leave Mystic Falls. "_

_"Why not? It's just a town. There's nothing here we can't find somewhere else. I don't care about any of it. Not the town, not the plantation, not his money or anything else."_

_"I know. That's not why I'm staying. I can't explain it to you. Not yet. But one day you will understand and one day you will be able to make things right, I have faith in you."_

_Alexandra parked the car and was able to unclench for a moment. "Okay. " She said more to herself than to him "Let's get inside and sort this out." She said getting out and going to the passenger's side. "Damon, wake up." She said gently. "Let's get in the house and get cleaned up."_

He opened his eyes. "Let me sleep." He said as she pulled him from the car. He groaned. "Sacha." But he didn't resist as she walked him toward the house. "Did you leave the door open?" He asked, as they went through it.

"I was in a hurry." She said, closing it behind them. They were all over mud, and she moved them into the bathroom, "Glad you're able to see the world around you again." Alexandra started the water running in the tub.

"I'm just tired. That's all." He said.

"What made you go out there in the middle of the night in this weather?" She asked, watching as his eyes seemed to clear a little.

"I was just… out. Let it go." He said running a hand through his hair and making a disgusted sound as it came back covered in mud and forest debris.

"No, I'm not going to let it go. What were you doing in your mother's crypt?" She knew why he was there. Alaric had told her everything.

"I went for a walk. I wasn't out there. I just… went … out." He said "I slipped in the mud and you're worrying over nothing." He looked at his hand again. "Where's my ring?" Damon asked, meaning the one he thought of almost as a wedding band.

"I have it." She told him.

He was confused and it showed. "I had to make you give it to me so that I could get you out of the crypt. You were being leeched dry." She told him.

"By what?" He frowned.

"Your mother's ghost." She told him and had to push him back to the seated position. The fact that he was weak enough for her to do so worried her.

"You're crazy. I wasn't anywhere near my mother." He said firmly.

"Is that honestly what you believe Damon?" She asked "Really? Because that's where I found you, collapsed on the floor. "

He shook his head. "No. I would … remember." He said frowning.

"You will not go back there." She said forcing her will on him. "Not until I say." She then gave him his ring back, and was relieved to see he put it back on his left hand.

"You're over reacting." He said. "Can ghosts really feed off of vampires?" He asked "It doesn't make sense."

"Maybe if she was as powerful as I suspect." She said "I've never thought to need protection against ghosts before. I've never heard anything about it happening to anyone else."

He nodded. "We're gonna talk about this when I'm more awake. You don't get to just command me like that." He said. "Not about something like that."

"Do you want me to let you go?" She asked.

"No." He said firmly.

"Then yeah, I do." She told him gently, ignoring the frustrated growl she got in return.

"We're covered in mud." He said changing the subject "I think we're a little over dressed for this to be because we were having fun."

"You're right. Why don't you get in the tub, I'll get you something to eat."


	36. Chapter 36

**Chapter thirty six**

Carol Lockwood called for the house keeper to get the door, early Wednesday morning, and received no answer. She sighed in exasperation, and went to answer it herself. The deliveries were already coming for the ball that weekend and it was probably someone who didn't know the meaning of service entrance.

She opened the door and stared, dumbstruck. She'd expected to see him. She'd known it had to be coming but to see him there, to see her son's body standing in front of her shocked her to the core. "Tyler." She said with wide eyes and pulled him to her, across the threshold. "I thought you were dead."

"Guess this means I can come home." Klaus said grinning as he held Tyler's mom close.

"There was never any question. Why did you let everyone think you were dead?" She asked easing back from him and leading the way into the parlor.

"I thought I was dying." He said. "I turned and didn't come back to my senses for days. It was happening randomly. I was completely out of control… I was afraid I'd hurt someone. So I stayed away until I got it under control again."

Carol rested her hand on his. "You're home now. That's all that matters. " She said. "Are you planning to call Caroline?"

"I don't know what to say to her." He said. "She's gonna hate me."

More than you know, Carol thought. "I don't think she could ever hate you, Tyler. I've gotten to know Caroline quite well over these past months." She said.

"Can we keep this between you and me for now? I don't want anyone else to know until I figure out what I'm going to say."

"I don't think it's going to matter what you say. But alright, if that's how you want it we can keep it between us for now. The Founder's Ball is this weekend and we have people coming and going all the time so you'll need to keep your head down."

"Thanks Mom. I love you." He said getting to his feet.

"I love you too."

* * *

Elena looked over the papers Stefan had brought back from Duke University. It was all confusing and made her head hurt thinking about it all. "So what does it all mean? " She asked.

"I don't know. " Stefan said. "There's a lot of mythology in there. Who knows how much is truth and how much is just religion passed on to keep the war going." He took out one of the stacks of papers and sat beside her. "It says that there were two sisters. Witches and twins apparently, equally beautiful, and powerful, and of course as these stories always go, one was the good twin and one was evil."

Elena looked at the text. "What language was this originally in?" She asked.

"Sumerian," He answered. "It's just a little younger than the Epic of Gilgamesh, which apparently mentions a witch creating a werewolf of sorts, and summoning a ghost from the land of the dead."

"Is Gilgamesh part of mythology or just a story?"

"I think it's just a story. The very first story ever written down… or at least the oldest we have found actually written. " Stefan said.

"But this is actual Myth?" She asked "Of course what's the difference between actual myth and just a story?"

"Well… Twilight is just a story." He said grinning. "And generally speaking myths are something that someone at some point actually believed was truth. Anyway, Semeramis, who is the elder sister, not by long I guess since they are twins or equals or whatever falls in love with the son of the local leader. It of course says Sidu is a prince, but the anthropologist translating this says it's more likely son of the tribal chieftain. Anyway she falls for the guy; he is starting to fall for her, read in all sorts of flowery romantic poetic images for about 5 chapters." He said laughing a little. "Of course her sister Nimshibur is jealous. She wants him for herself. She's obsessed with him, can't sleep or eat for the thought of him. Finally their mother becomes worried and takes sides. She can't stand to watch her daughter suffer so she tells her how to weave a spell that will make him love her instead of Semeramis.

"Nice. Never mind what it will do to the other girl to lose him." Elena said shaking her head.

"I guess even then parents had their favorites." Stefan said before continuing with the story. "Anyway the spell works Sidu and Nimshibur are married."

"Ouch"

"So the older girl sticks around,"

"Apparently a glutton for punishment," Elena said.

"She helps Sidu where ever she can. Whether it's magically in battle or just with advice. It implies heavily that they were best friends and Sidu liked the idea of friends with benefits"

"Jerk."

"Well you have to remember, he was originally in love with this woman. You could consider him a jerk, or maybe he was able to break free of the spell just enough to desire the woman he truly loved." Stefan pointed out.

"Depending on if you are a romantic at heart or a realist." Elena said.

He laughed quietly. "Again as is typical the wife found out and was pissed. So she and Sidu's younger brother who isn't given a name, plot the man's death. They succeed and while they are publicly mourning and secretly celebrating, Semeramis has been trying desperately to find a way to bring her lover back. " Stefan said picking up his coffee cup.

"I am guessing she turns out to be the first necromancer."

"Pretty much, yeah. She goes to the temple of Ereshkigal, Queen of the land of the dead, and begs for him to be returned but she's told no. No one who enters her kingdom ever returns to the land of the living. So from there she tries to outwit death. It says for the first leg of the trip to the underworld, she sacrifices the aid of the moon, and control of the moon beasts,"

"Werewolves?" She asked."Does that mean witches used to control the werewolves?

"That's what I was thinking. "Stefan said with a nod. "Next she gives up the comfort and wisdom of the willow tree, and finally to cross into the land of the dead while still living, she gives up a portion of her magic." Stefan said.

"That's a lot to give up"

"Yes it is." He nodded. "So she gets there, and she's begging Ereshkigal one last time to return her lover to her, and is again told no he can't enter the land of the living, but because of all that she's sacrificed and done, she is allowed to stay and they can be together in the land of the dead. Semeramis accepts and for a while they're happy. That is until they find out she is pregnant. Sidu might be willing to keep a living lover in hell but he's not willing to allow his child to be born there. So he talks her into leaving. "

"Of course."

Stefan chuckled. "Any way the rest of the story is how he helps her to escape. He's gathered up these rocks from the underworld to use as currency as they go. Apparently the dead really like these things and they are able to bribe their way out of the underworld using them. "

"So he does get out." Elena said.

"By hiding in one of the stones." He said.

"Like the one that Tyler is in currently?" Elena asked.

"That was my thought. "

"So how does the story end?"

"Semeramis and Nimshibur, who is now planning her wedding to the younger prince, go to war. It's the forces of the dead, against the living and ultimately Semeramis wins. Her prince takes over the body of his treacherous little brother, and marries her. Mean while Nimshibur is pregnant it doesn't say by whom, and raises her child to hate Necromancers, while Semeramis and Sidu raise theirs to never trust a witch. "

"And thus the feud begins. Over a guy," Elena said.

"Hey I was impressed. Usually it's a woman."

She laughed at that. "Regardless of how true it is or isn't, it certainly gives you something to think about."

"Yes it does." He said looking up as the front door opened.

"Hey." Damon says as he and Alex enter the house. "How would you like to learn to worm your way into someone's sleeping mind. " He asked Elena.

"I guess, sure. Why?"

"Because I need you to get into mine with Alex later. First though, we need to fix Henry, or at the very least make him functional until we get rid of Klaus. " Damon said.

"Why do we need someone in your head?" Stefan asked, brows knitting together.

" Because someone else has already been in there." Damon said. "We thought it was Timon before. Now I'm not so sure it was that recent."

Alex explained what had been going on since his rescue from the hands of the originals and their necromancer.

"You should have said something." Stefan said in frustration.

"Until last night I wasn't sure that his trips to the mausoleum were a problem. He's allowed to keep a few secrets even from the two of us." Alex said. "But last night I was sure that it was someone in his head."

"How far back do you think it was put into place. I'm not making any sense of this." Elena said.

"Neither was I until Stefan here, found out that our Mother had a thrall. " Damon said. "It's possible that she had her compel me."

"Wouldn't that have become obvious when you were turned?" Elena asked. "I remembered meeting you that night on the side of the road when I turned."

"You would think but apparently if it's done in concert with a necromancer… a powerful one… it can stay secret even when your life passes before your eyes." Damon said with a shrug. "Either way, I want to find out. "

"Are you sure you want me in your head?" Elena asked.

"If Stefan was up to the job I'd ask him. But he's not. There are serious down sides to even a partial bunny diet." Damon said. "And I trust you. " he added.

"Okay." Elena said. "But first you need to teach me how."

"That's the plan." Damon said going to get a drink from the bar. "Being in Henry's head won't be pleasant." He told her.

"I can handle unpleasant." Elena said.

* * *

Carol walked to the back of the house. Apparently she was needed to sign off on a delivery. Usually they accepted her house keepers signature as good enough but this was the liquor delivery and occasionally they were touchy.

"Hello Matt." She said smiling at the young man at the door.

"Hello Mrs. Lockwood." He said. His boss was off loading the truck, making it all nice and legal. Matt was just handling the bill of lading. "How are you today?"

"I'm good actually. You?" She said taking the clip board in hand.

"I'm alright." He said taking it back. "You have a good day." Matt told her as he walked away. Looking down he noted the words, 'he's here' written underneath her signature. He scratched them out once he got back into the delivery truck. He waited until they were back at the grill before sending out a text to the others stating 'game on'

"And Klaus is back." Damon said looking at his cell phone as they headed down into the basement.

"Then we'd better do this right or he'll know Avril isn't Yvette." Elena said nervously.

"You'll do fine." Damon told her, picking up on her anxiety. "It's okay. I'll be in there with you, and Alex is going to be directing this magical mystery tour so there isn't anything you can do that will hurt him."

Elena nodded, still not feeling all that confident but she didn't have a choice. She had to be able to help Alex fix whatever was going on in Damon's head too. For that she'd take whatever steps were necessary.

Meredith had changed out the vervain piggy back for the mixture Alexandra had created to assist in the merger the night before. Otherwise the vampires wouldn't be able to get into his mind at all. "If this works like you say it does, he'll be out for as long as you need." She said, and went upstairs to wait.

Stefan stood at the door and watched.

Alex pulled the cot out so that she could sit on the far side of Henry, leaving the side the vampires stood on with clear line of site. Damon didn't need it, but Elena would.

Alexandra made a small cut on the palm of Henry's hand and mingled it with her own blood as she forced her way into Henry's mind. He was no longer bound to her sister. That ended with her death. He was however trained for nearly two centuries to resist any mind but Yvette's. She nodded to them as she found the way in. "Just talk to him and keep him calm. I'll be working on things you won't be able to see."

Damon stood behind Elena. "Just relax, focus on Henry. " He said talking her through every step of the process, in a patient voice, encouraging her even when she took miss steps.

Stefan smiled a little at that. He remembered that side of Damon from their mortal life. Sure his brother had his father's temper and sometimes took it out him as a kid. But most of the time, this was the guy he remembered; this was the brother he missed so desperately. The one he'd wanted to keep alive by making him transition. He'd thought he'd killed that part of him. He was relieved to find that he hadn't.

Eventually they fell silent, conversing instead inside Henry's dreams and all Stefan could do was watch.

Damon held Elena's hand walking her through the dream, approaching Henry. It was night, and the vampire was making repairs to the roof of a cabin. Damon took in the man's clothing. "You're older than I thought." He said staring up at him. He estimated the setting to be pre revolution. "You know it doesn't have to be night here if you don't want it to be."

"Damon?" Henry asked jumping down from the roof. "What are you doing here? "

"We have to talk, and you have to let Alexandra help you." Damon said.

Henry shook his head. "I'm ready for it to be over." He said. "I've existed long enough."

"We need your help." Elena said. "Bonnie wasn't trying to kill Yvette. She thought she was killing Avril." She could feel the overall despair of the scene. It was like a weight pressing down on her, until she was certain it was going to crush her from the weight.

He looked to Damon.

"I took care of it. The witch won't be hurting anyone else ever again. But she wasn't the source of the problem. She was just one of Klaus's flunkies. We're going after Klaus." It seemed he said that an awful lot the last few years.

"How can I help you with that?" Henry asked, tiredly.

"By protecting Avril. We need people to believe that she's Yvette and that won't happen without you." Elena said.

Henry sighed. "I should give the man my undying gratitude. You know that." He said.

"I know." Damon said. He could feel the air lighten. The sky began to lighten a little as well. He could breathe easier and he was sure Henry could as well. "He has to be stopped, Henry. I am through fighting the son of a bitch. He's taken too much from too many people I care about."

"Fine… I will help." Henry said. "But on one condition."

Damon looked at him quizzically.

"That you end it when this is done."

"What?" Elena asked. "No." She said. "It's just the grief talking you can't really mean you want to die."

Damon nodded. "Okay. I'll do it when this is over. In the mean time I'll … share Alex. I have a feeling you are far too addicted to be out there flying on your own." They had talked about it on the way over. It was the only way to insure that Henry kept his head long enough for the job to be done.

"Thank you." He said.

Damon opened his eyes and walked Elena through exiting the dream world. It was second nature to him and as simple as opening his eyes, but she could easily be trapped if she didn't know how.

"Why did you agree to that." Elena demanded as soon as she was back in her own mind. "Its suicide by vampire."

"Yes." Damon said. "It is. And it's his choice."

"He's in no condition to make that choice, Damon. My god he's completely broken." She said. "He just doesn't want to go on because of the grief."

Alex followed them out, having done all that she could to make him functional, and she was sure that it wasn't enough. "No. It's not grief." She said wiping her eyes. "My sister was a traditionalist. The only way to save him would be to undo his mind and he doesn't want that. He just wants to cross over. I can't fault him that." She took the bowl of pre prepared herbs, and added a sample of Henry's blood to it.

"What are you doing now?" Elena asked with a frown.

"She's going to enthrall him." Damon said. "He's addicted to the bond and necromancy in general. If she doesn't he's not going to be any use to us and probably self destruct on his own."

"That's what you meant by share?" Elena glared at them both.

"What did you think I meant?" Damon asked.

Stefan looked at his brother critically. Share? He wondered about Damon's relationship again but pushed it out of his mind. He wasn't about to walk down that path again. It had nearly cost him his brother once already.

Damon looked at Stefan and raised an eyebrow. "I'm where I want to be." He said knowing his brother too well to miss what the furrowed brow and serious set to the jaw meant.

Stefan took a breath and nodded. He held his hand out to Elena who let him pull her into an embrace. "I want to go with her when she jumps into your head." He told his brother. "She's going to need a guide and Alex is going to be busy holding the rest of you together. "

"You'll see things you don't like." Damon said.

Stefan shrugged and laughed a little. "That's different from the last 148 years with you how?"

Damon gave a lopsided grin. "Fair enough," He looked at Alex when the ritual was complete. He'd felt it. He had felt the addition of a new presence. That was different. He'd have to talk to her about it later.


	37. Chapter 37

**Chapter thirty seven**

Damon settled into position on the bed, his head resting on Alexandra's lap. "No headboard this time?" He teased, not noticing how his brother tensed at that one.

"No. I figure Stefan and Elena can hold you down if you try to bolt." She said laughing a little.

"Really?" Damon said "I don't know if I was just insulted or not." He drew in a deep breath and let it out with a hum as the potion began to take effect. "It's a shame I won't be awake to enjoy this." He said loving the increase in the connection between them. It was just as well it wasn't like that all the time though. It would be overwhelming if on for too long. "We need to figure out a way to do this recreationally." He said as his eyes began to drift close. "Feels good."

"Hedonist." Alex stroked his hair, gently massaged his temples, relaxing him further. "okay, he's asleep. " she said closing her eyes, going once more inside Damon's mind.

Stefan walked Elena through it again. He'd gotten better with this sort of thing during his time with Klaus. There was a great deal about his time with the original that he chose not to tell Damon or Elena about. He remembered when his mother died and chose a time close to that.

"Give that back you runt!" A sixteen year old Damon chased his younger brother up the stairs. "That's mine."

"Not anymore." The twelve year old Stefan called back. "Dad said I could have it."

"It's not his to give away."

"Well I see that some things about having younger siblings never changes." Elena said smiling, she let Stefan lead her after them, but her eyes were on the mansion itself. "So beautiful." She murmured.

They followed the boys up two flights of stairs and down the corridor where Damon finally cornered Stefan. "Give it back; Mother gave it to me, not you."

"And I gave it to him." Their father said in a stern tone, just shy of a bark.

Damon turned to face him, shoulders squared and defiant. "You can't do that. It's not yours. It's mine."

"You own nothing in this house boy." Giuseppe scolded. "You possess what I allow you to possess and nothing more. The book is Stefan's. Now get out of my sight."

Damon still stood glaring.

"Come on," his little brother said, pulling at Damon's arm. "Please."

Damon attempted to scowl at Stefan but failed. "Yeah, alright." He grumbled and let the boy lead him away. He wanted to sulk, he wanted his damned book back. Not that he was going to pursue it at the moment. He knew his father would be hovering around.

"You're father was a jerk." Elena said softly, they had yet to let themselves be seen by the boys.

Stefan simply nodded.

Damon let the younger Stefan lead him around the corner and into one of the unoccupied rooms.

"I'm sorry." The boy said. "I didn't mean to get you into trouble."

Damon clearly wanted to yell at the kid but didn't. Instead he went to look out the window, watching as a buck board pulled up to the house and a woman was helped to the ground. "It's not your fault." He said instead, "It's still my book though." He grumbled continuing to watch.

Stefan held the book out to his brother, and was surprised at the scowl he got in return.

"He'll search my room tonight. You know he will. Finish reading it. You can give it back to me later." He said sullenly, and reached out to mess up his brother's hair. "Go on. Get outta here."

"Did you give him the book back?" She asked quietly.

Stefan shook his head as they followed Damon out of the room. "This is the day our mother dies. Neither of us spoke of it again."

"What is it we're supposed to be doing here?"

"For now we watch." Stefan said. "We're surfing his memories."

Damon stood quietly at the railing looking down two floors below to the woman as she was invited inside. She handed over a piece of paper, and the maid escorted her into his mother's rooms on the second floor. Damon went down the stairs and to the door, listening closely.

He frowned hearing nothing, and rapped on the door. The woman opened it, standing aside to let him enter. He went to his mother's side, leaned over and kissed her cheek. "You're looking better today." He said before going to take his accustomed seat in her room.

"I'm glad you came." She said. "I was just about to send for you. There is something I need you to do, Damon. It's very important. "

He nodded his agreement.

"Portia is going to talk to you for a moment, and you need to do exactly as she says. " Madelena said taking her son's hand.

"I'm not Stefan, Mother, you can speak plainly." Damon said.

"Very well," Madelena said "I am dying." She held up her hand when he began to protest. "Do not interrupt me. You believe you are adult enough to hear it, then you must be adult enough to listen. "

He nodded gravely.

"There are things that you do not know and cannot know until the time is right. Just understand that I can come back. If things are done now."

He started to ask how, but closed his mouth and nodded instead.

His mother nodded in turn and offered him something to drink in a small cup.

He started to ask what it was but the look on her face bade him to be silent so he took the drink and consumed it, making a face. "Dear god." He said.

Madelena laughed quietly. They chatted over nothing until she could see that he was beginning to drift off. "You may speak to him, Portia. You know what I want done."

The woman knelt before Damon and focused on his face. "You will find after your mother's death, amongs her things, a stone as red as blood, a leather bound book in a language you do not understand," The list continued. "These you will secret away in the sepulcher. Do you understand?"

"Yes," Damon answered in the bland tone of one who was being compelled.

"Very good." She said. "When all is in place you will return the next new moon and wait there. You will comply with all that is asked of you at that time. You will do so without fear, and without hesitation. Do you understand?"

"Yes." He said again.

"Give me your hand."

He held forth his hand and Portia sliced it open. She milked his blood into two vials and put them into a basket with several others. She then bit her wrist and made him drink to heal the wound instantly.

"Go to your room and go to sleep, you have a headache if anyone asks. You will not remember this conversation. You will not remember any of the actions you have taken now, nor any that you have been asked to perform. Do you understand?"

"Yes." Damon said.

"You may go." Portia said as she took a black disk from the basket.

Elena looked at Stefan in shock. "Your mother is using him to bring her back from the dead? How is that even possible?" She asked shaking her head.

"I don't know." He said and led them back out of his brother's mind. He had thought to delve deeper but such things could wait until there weren't so many witnesses. He opened his eyes and looked as Alex continued to work. He could only hope that what she was doing was going to be enough. He'd never heard of a compulsion that lasted beyond transition. They all fell away once you died.

"Just sleep." Alex was saying to Damon, and Stefan watched his brother's body relaxed in her arms as he slid deeper into sleep. "He's not going to deal with this well at all." She said quietly.

"We don't know that he was going to be harmed." Stefan said.

"Not often that you have to compel someone to cooperate with things that are pleasant and cheerful." Alex said with a sigh. "And she was draining him somehow. I don't know how but she was doing it."

"What would happen if you pulled a soul out of a body and just left it alone." Elena asked.

"What do you mean? Alex asked, frowning.

"What if someone used one of those stones that we put Tyler in, the… soul stones… but they didn't put anyone in the body." She clarified. "When we were leaving, I saw Portia take one of those stones out of the basket that she had been putting Damon's blood into."

"I think I can answer that." Avril said having heard the voices when she arrived and come looking. "I had Jessica look up some of the images on the sarcophagus. They looked familiar but all my books are at home." She came in and sat on the edge of the bed. "They're preservation symbols. If the right spells were done someone could become a Sleeping Beauty."

"Are you saying we buried my mother alive?" Stefan asked, horrified as much by that as by what he had witnessed in his brothers head.

"Not precisely, but she wasn't precisely dead either." Avril said. "I won't know more until I've examined the remains. Right now it's just a supposition."

"I'm not sure it's a good idea to disturb those remains as yet." Alex said. "And when we do you two can baby sit Damon down in the basement."

Stefan nodded. "I almost don't want to tell him."

"He'll remember. I didn't make him forget anything." Alex said, and then brought her sister up to speed.

"That's a pretty powerful set up." Avril said. "We're talking something that would require a witch and a necromancer to set up and we don't normally work together except under duress or rare occasions when you wind up with one of each in a family. "

"Like you two." Elena said.

Avril nodded.

"Regardless… we need more information before we do anything about it; if we do anything about it." Stefan said. "After what I saw… I don't know that I want her back amongst the living. Damon was her favorite. She doted on him. If he wasn't so much like our father I think she would have emasculated him with how much she doted. " He admitted, but his brother had always been his own man even in the face of their mothers affection. "For her to treat him like that only to bleed him for some spell… "

"You think your mother is evil?" Elena asked.

"I think I don't want to risk finding out that my parents are exactly like Michael and Esther. " Stefan said and ran a hand through his hair.

"Maybe they were bleeding him so that they wouldn't have to sacrifice him in the end. Maybe it's about volume of blood not actual death." Elena suggested. "We don't know what was going through their mind and we have no way of knowing. Better not to assume."

"I want to know more about Portia." Stefan said."That means talking to Katherine."

"Why on earth do you want to know more about that woman?" Elena asked.

"Because I believe she was the last person to see my mother alive. I remember that day pretty clearly. I'd gone back to my room to read, Damon had poked his head in to check on me before going to lie down because his head hurt… and then my father came in to tell me that my mother was gone. I think that when Damon left the room, she and whoever else was with her put her into that stone. The stone that for some reason Katherine saw fit to take along with the book. Portia is a vampire and if anything Katherine has said was true, she knew her well. I think she was sent back here do something. "

Damon stirred on the bed. "You know, it's really hard to sleep when you people are talking about and over me. Especially the about part." He said turning onto his side, his head still in Alexandra's lap. "Mom will keep." He said with a sigh. "She's kept this long, she'll keep a little longer. Klaus has to be dealt with before we do anything else." He nestled in and reached up to take Alex's hand. God he loved that stuff she gave him. "I'm tired of that son of a bitch turning up."

"You're right." Stefan said. "We'll table it for now."

"Good. No need for you to go see Katherine then." He said, closing his eyes.

"I'm perfectly safe with Katherine." Stefan said.

Damon opened one eye. " No one is perfectly safe with Katherine. Not even Katherine. Take Elena with you. Better yet take Elena out to dinner and forget Katherine." He closed the eye again. "I'm going to have this woman drive me home. Unless you need me for something."

"No, go on home." Stefan said. "one question though… that stuff you gave Damon… Is it as potent as vervain? Would it make Klaus docile?"

"No. And I would need a sample of his blood to create it. It's a very specialized potion. We're just going to have to hit him with enough Vervain that he can't do anything when I go in and drain his energy."

"No." Damon said. "I don't want you anywhere near him. "

"We have to make physical contact with him to make the transfer." Avril said. "Perhaps we should work on concentrating the vervain to compensate for the added boost he gets from being a hybrid. I don't want to use wolvesbane because Tyler has to go back in there. "

"Not a bad plan. I can take down a few of the protections so you can come out to the property. Let me get Damon home and you can come out for Dinner and we'll work on it."

"I'll see you then. If all goes well I'll bring Henry with me and keep up the illusion just in case."

"Sounds good." She said and patted Damon on the arm. He sat up and they got out of the bed.

"Remember what I said. No Katherine." Damon told Stefan as they walked out of the room. Half way down the stairs he turned to Alex. "I will bet you a weekend in Venice that he will be at Katherine's door sometime tonight."

"With or without Elena?" She asked.

"Without." He said.

"ooh I'll take that bet. She'll stick to him like glue after his disappearance the other night. If you're right I'll pack the handcuffs."

"I like the sound of that." He said, although his mind was somewhere else. He would rather it was on a sun filled vacation with Alex. Those thoughts were sane and safe and didn't involve him being bled by his mother. Or that they might have buried her alive. Or that Katherine had stolen the items that he had been supposed to find and put in the crypt. Or had Portia taken them and given them to Katherine? "Venice … or maybe Tuscany … and handcuffs." He grinned. "The question is does it count as with Elena if he doesn't know she's there?"

"Hmm… we'll have to sort that out won't we."


	38. Chapter 38

**Chapter thirty eight**

Henry began to pace. He wasn't accustomed to being left to his own devices. There was always something to do, something not to do, instructions upon orders upon directives. Currently his only orders were to protect Avril and not to harm himself.

"You know it's the caged animals that pace not the ones outside the cage." Damon said and sighed at the look on the older vampires face. "Fine, but at least it's a spacious cage and the food is good."

Henry shook his head. "You honestly believe you have control of your own actions?" he asked.

"No." Damon said honestly. "And I'm starting to wonder if I ever have." He poured two glasses of bourbon and handed one over to Henry.

"Because of your mother?" Henry asked.

Damon nodded. "I used to think it was Katherine that kept pulling me back here but now I have to wonder if that wasn't just easier to wrap my head around." It was strange sharing Alexandra. It made the bond much more tangible when there was a third party involved. He didn't like it. It messed with the illusion he kept firmly in place where she was concerned.

He had always fooled himself into the belief that he wasn't really enslaved. It was easy given the nature of their relationship. Now it was different. Nothing had changed except that he was looking at it through someone else's eyes. He hoped it passed when she let Henry go.

"In the end does it matter?" Henry asked.

Damon shrugged. "What's one manipulative lying bitch compared to another, right?" He asked downing the bourbon in one swallow. His mother had been bleeding him… for how long? What had she been using it for? What had he been supposed to submit to on the new moon after her death? Would she have killed him? Had she been trying to kill him after he'd put the book in place? Had she gone mad after so long in a box? A vampire was more or less designed to deal with time in a box. Miserably but they could deal. The human mind however was another matter entirely. He may have been nothing more than an easy meal to a crazed mind. Somehow that was no more comforting than the belief she had known.

Henry watched the man pour another drink and wondered if he realized the most manipulative of all was the one he thought he loved. She'd won him over with a gentle hand. She kept him on a long leash but it was still there and he had no doubt that she would pull him back to heel if he ever stepped out of line or did something that displeased her.

Damon had been kept safely and securely out of the necromancer community. No one but Yvette actually ever saw him or knew he existed. He knew just enough to think he was one of the lucky few when perhaps he was the one deserving of pity and assistance. He didn't know what it was like out there. He didn't know the realities of their world. He thought he did. But Henry could tell the man was still very much naïve about it all. Alexandra had seen to that.

"Will she allow you to keep your promise to me?" Henry asked bluntly.

"I keep my promises." Damon said. "I don't need permission for that."

He sighed and shook his head. "Right."

"If it's what you still want after Klaus is taken care of, I will make sure it happens."

* * *

Caroline knew she was being watched as she shopped. She could feel the hybrid's eyes on her and it was all she could do to keep her attention fixed on the dress in her hand. It was black with black and silver bead and thread work. She had no date to the ball even though she had turned down several offers. She'd gone stag since Tyler's supposed death and she wasn't going to change that or her color choice until he was able to be at her side again.

She went into the stall to try it on, and came out to stand in front of the full length mirrors looking at all angles.

"You look beautiful. " A woman not much older than herself said, and something told Caroline that this was the hybrid watching her today. "A little dark though, don't you think?"

Caroline smiled, intentionally a little sadly. "I'm in mourning. I can't live in black, but I don't go to parties in any other color." She said.

"Maybe things will start looking up soon. You can't grieve forever."

"Thanks." She said, and turned to look at the clerk. "I'll take this one." She said and went into the stall to change out again. It was moments like this that she really missed Bonnie. To be honest she was missing Elena too. Since her transition it seemed that she had spent even less time with her best friend than ever. She had thought it would give them more in common but it seemed to accentuate their differences.

She paid for the dress and went out to her car. She headed home feeling very much alone on that moment. She couldn't wait for this to be over and done with so that she could have at least part of her life back.

* * *

Stefan stood at Katherine's doorstep and rang the bell.

"This is turning into a thing." Katherine said as she opened the door. She didn't invite him in this time. "What do you want, Stefan."

"Just to talk." He said.

"Last time we talked you didn't like what you heard and gave me the cold shoulder." She said. "Not up for a repeat performance. "

Stefan pushed inside. "I talked to Alex. I know why Damon doesn't remember. You want to be nice to me right now. "

"Stefan, I could break you in two in my sleep." She sighed. "Between the bunny diet and the age difference, it's not a good idea to make threats."

"It wasn't a threat." He said.

"Right. It just sounded like one." She said."Again, what do you want Stefan. You come to talk when you want information. Not because you want to be friends."

"Pot, kettle, black." Stefan said and grinned as she sighed and closed the door.

"Fine, but I'm not offering you wine this time." She said leading the way into her living room. "out with it." She said flopping down into a chair.

"Portia." He said sitting on the arm of the couch, across from her.

"And that was the shortest conversation we've had to date." She said. "Good seeing you again, Stefan, feel free to come back anytime."

"Or I could tell Damon that you tried to murder him when you figured out you couldn't get him out of that room." Stefan said. "it's not like he'd blame Alex for taking the memories away from him. She might even take away the block, and you know Damon. Once he feels betrayed…"

"It would have been a mercy killing. At least he'd have been free." She said. "That's why I did it, Stefan. Not because I couldn't have him but because I didn't want to see him end up like Portia. And that's exactly what has happened."

"I don't think that's going to matter to him do you?" He asked.

Katherine glared at him. "What do you want to know?" She asked.

"What she and my mother were doing to Damon." He said.

"I wasn't there then." She said. "How should I know?"

Something in how she said it, told Stefan she was lying. "Try again. I know they were leeching blood from him, and that my mother didn't exactly die. I know that Portia compelled Damon and somehow managed to make them work beyond his transition. I know somehow she has a hold over you and I suspect you were sent back to mystic falls to take care of something for her, not searching for the moon stone."

"You need to stay out of this Stefan. Take care of Klaus, and get out of town. Take Elena and elope for all I care. Just be out of town soon." She said. "I'd say take Damon with you but it won't do any good."

"Because of the compulsion for him to be there?" Stefan asked. "Tell me what you know, Katherine. I'm tired of everyone with their half truths and inconsistencies. I need to know what's going on."

" You already know." She said."You just want me to confirm it."

"And your part in it." Stefan said.

Katherine folded her arms across her chest and sighed."Stefan please…"

Stefan sat staring at her, saying nothing, just waiting, watching her squirm under his gaze. "I need the truth this time."

She scowled, and turned her attention to the floor.

"Katherine." He said sharply.

"Portia isn't my friend." Katherine said honestly. "She's a very old vampire. I met her when Klaus was holding court in England. I'm not sure which of them created her but she was made by one of the originals. "

"Does that make her more powerful?" Stefan asked.

"I don't know… it might just be how old she is. She found me during transition and made sure that I knew exactly how much I owed her if she didn't turn me over to Klaus. At the time I thought that it was a better option than death which I was pretty sure was what Klaus had in mind."

Stefan nodded. "What did she want?"

"A servant. You know how well that went over. Believe me I was not at all displeased when she wound up enthralled to a Necromancer. I got out of there as quickly as I could."

"Did you ever see her? My mother I mean?" He asked, and she nodded.

"Tall, beautiful, powerful. Damon has her eyes, only his have some warmth to them, even when he's pretending he wants to kill you." She told him."I made sure she didn't see me and I got out of Florence as quickly as I could."

"When was this?" He asked.

Katherine sighed and did a little math in her head. "1602, or something close to it." She told him.

"She's that old." He said quietly.

"She's older. They aren't born uber-powerful any more than anyone else on the planet. It takes time to become a powerhouse, and that's exactly what your mother was. And don't think you are the only family she had out there. She had a husband and children then too. "

"No one wants to spend eternity alone." He shrugged. It wasn't a terrible thing. It was actually a sign that maybe there was some humanity to his mother after all. "Is Portia still alive?"

"I don't know." She said. "maybe."

"Katherine." Stefan said disapprovingly.

"She's alive, alright. She's alive." She went to get that glass of wine after all. "She tried to betray your mother after her funeral." Katherine explained. "That's why she was with the witch in New Orleans. Although I have my suspicions about her too. "

"What suspicions?" He asked.

"That she was involved somehow and I was being played." She told him. "I was supposed to bring the book and stone back to mystic falls and put them back in the sepulcher. Apparently after Damon had found them and put them in the first time, Portia went and removed them. "

"Is that all you were supposed to do?" He asked.

She shook her head. "I was supposed to turn Damon and make sure he was there at the mausoleum at the dark of the moon."

Stefan's features hardened and for the first time Katherine was actually afraid of him as he approached her. "Why?" He demanded sharply, one large hand going to her throat.

Katherine clawed at his hand, gouging it with her nails. "So that they wouldn't kill him when they bled him dry. " She choked out. "I fell in love with you while waiting for him to come home from the war. I wanted to turn you, I had to turn Damon." She said finally breaking free of his hand then kicked him back away from her. "That's your last freebie, Stefan." She said kicking again, sending him across the floor, slamming into the hearth. She then took her seat once more. "Don't threaten me again. I don't like it. Next time I'll hurt you." Frightening her was the wrong move. She'd spent 500 years fleeing for her life, paying debts and scheming her way through life. She was tired of it. She was tired of the fear and now it was time to make that known.

Stefan sat up, with a groan, and looked over at Katherine. "So what went wrong with the perfect plan?" he asked.

"I waited too long." She said honestly. "I didn't really want to do it. I didn't want to see that woman back up and walking around. I knew if I was anywhere around she'd have me too. So I kept giving Damon my blood for months, keeping it in his system. He really was the perfect student. Even as a human he had a grasp on the whole vampire thing. I figured you would be my problem child ultimately. "

Stefan shook his head as he listened.

"So when your father killed the two of you… and my plan to disappear into the land of the truly dead appeared to have worked I hid the book and the stone amongs your half brother's things. I compelled him to protect them and to plant vervain around your mother's mausoleum. I figured I'd come back later and deal with it if I had to but I didn't have to because everyone thought I was long gone and no one knew where to find the book. "

"But then you turned up alive." Stefan said.

"Exactly. Only when I was here the last time I didn't know where they'd put the book or the gem so I had to find it again. I left them in the boarding house because they were safe there until I needed the book. Someone was willing to pay me a lot for that book. "

"When you left the house too easily we sorted out that you had to have brought something with you to hide or taken something with you. So we searched the house. That's when Damon found the stone disk. Which started all of this happening again. Now he has the book and they are both in the mausoleum with our mother's body."

"Which means Portia will be on her way if she isn't here already along with the witch. " She said. "When are we dealing with Klaus?"

"Friday night." He said.

"Good. The sooner the better. I want out of this town before anything happens. So do you." She said. "Anyone that isn't one hundred percent living wants to be as far from Mystic Falls as possible before she wakes up. Even you and Damon." Katherine told him. "They don't consider us people, Stefan. Not even pretty little Alexandra. He's not a person to her. He's a pampered guard dog. A pet that she loves and would cry over if he died but nothing more than that. Never an equal. Never a person."

"And yet you say my mother wanted you to turn Damon so that she wouldn't kill him when draining him. If she doesn't think Vampires are people why would she do that to her favorite son?"

"I don't know, and I'm not sticking around to ask her. They aren't human, Stefan. They aren't humans with powers. They're different. They don't see the world the same way we do, they don't feel the same way we do." Katherine insisted. "If you love your brother, you'll knock him out and get him as far away from your mother and Alexandra as possible and pray that the bond fades with time. "

"That's not going to happen." Stefan said. "Not Alexandra anyway. He's in too deep."

"So you believe me now?"

Stefan nodded. " I was in his head tonight. I could sense what was going on… But he's right about one thing. It was his choice this time. I'm not going to interfere with that. He's happy for once. "

"Happy isn't all it's cracked up to be." Katherine said. "So what's the plan with Klaus?"

"We're still working on that." Stefan said.

"Cutting it a little close don't you think?" Katherine asked. "Why are we sitting here talking about your mother when we have Klaus to deal with."

* * *

Alexandra and her sister returned to the house carrying a large bottle of liquid. "Now for the test run." She said setting it on the table.

She looked surprised as Henry offered his arm to her.

"Not like that. Do we still have that bottle of champagne chilling? I thought we'd test it that way."

"Planning on dosing the whole party?" Damon asked as he went to grab the champagne.

"Just before we make our move yes. Jeremy and Matt have hired on to be servers. But first I want to make sure that it won't affect anyone but the vampires. Or for that matter that it will affect the vampires. You don't mind do you."

Damon shrugged "I'm up for it. This means I stick with the hard stuff at the party. And honestly if it takes down the human guests too that's not a bad plan either. It will mean less collateral damage when those outside start to move inside. "

"I'm still working on that. Unfortunately with him inside masked as Tyler he can get them all invited in at one point or another. " Avril said.

"Is there some sort of barrier you can put up that can block them out?" Henry asked, hesitantly.

"Possibly." Avril said."I will have to check into it. I don't know that I could do it on my own around the entire property this quickly. "

"Looks like we're going to have to settle for old fashioned defenses, then." Damon said pouring four glasses of champagne and bringing them over to the table.

"Anything come to mind?" Henry asked.

"Not yet. We used vervain bombs the last time, Klaus will be expecting that again. He's paranoid. He's probably already expecting that we know who he is."

"Then maybe we should dose everyone early on." Alexandra said.

Damon shook his head. "No… that would be telling too. He's not going to make an appearance until he's had a chance to approach Caroline. He's here for her. "

Alexandra dosed three of the glasses but Damon put his hand over Avril's.

"Someone should be awake … just in case." He said then picked up his own glass and took a drink. "Adds an odd flavor but not gonna be noticed in cheap bulk champagne… I… guess…" He said and instantly slumped forward.

"One down." Avril said as she sipped at her champagne. "you don't have to drink that if you don't want to." She told Henry. "Damon agreed. You didn't."

He gave her a confused look then looked to Alex for her decision.

"Completely up to you." Alex said and smiled as he set the glass down uncertainly. "you'll get used to it. Well… my turn." She took a long drink of it. "I don't notice anything odd about it at all. Ooh feel a little weird though."

Henry frowned and reached out. "Take my hand."

She did and felt nothing. "Wow… none of that for me I guess." She couldn't draw energy from him at all. "I hope this doesn't last long. "


	39. Chapter 39

**Chapter thirty nine**

Friday evening came far too quickly for Damon's comfort. The plan was far too free form for his taste. Those were usually the nights that everything went wrong. He walked up the steps with Alexandra on his arm, nodding in greeting to Carol Lockwood who welcomed them both to her home.

"I feel like I should recognize this dress." He said quietly as they toured the rooms mingling a little with the other guests. "You're sure it's new?"

Alexandra smiled. "It's new. But I picked it because it reminded me of something as well." She said. "New Years Eve, 1935. Paris."

Damon smiled. "It was almost New Years Day 1936. You were late. I thought I'd been stood up."

"Is that why you were flirting with your dinner so mercilessly?" She said. "I almost turned around and went home."

"But if you had, you'd have never gotten these earrings." He said kissing behind the ear.

"You were spoiling me I believe." Alex said.

"Completely under my own power I might add, so there was nothing you could do about it but enjoy them." He said. "I never understood that rule about not spoiling you."

"I didn't want to take advantage." She said scanning the crowd. "Ah there they are." She said spotting Stefan and Elena.

"Any other circumstances and I might be offended. I'm nibbling on your ear and you're looking for my brother." Damon teased, he too was scanning the crowd spotting Avril and Henry.

"You can nibble all you like when we're done tonight. I promise the last thing on my mind will be Stefan." She said smiling.

"The music is starting. Shall we?" He asked before leading her off to the dance floor. The band was playing a waltz as they moved to the center of the floor, and for the length of one song they forgot about all that hung over their heads. He rested one hand on her waist, the other rested at the small of his own back as they whirled around the dance floor. The looks passing between them heated the room, only breaking eye contact for well practiced turns. They had been dancing together for more than a hundred years and it showed.

Elena rested her head on Stefan's chest as she watched the couple on the dance floor. "Wow." She said softly, wondering what it would be like to be Damon's dance partner once more, even as she stood in his brothers arms. Jealousy reared its ugly head again and there was nothing she could do to quash it. He wasn't supposed to be over her this quickly. It wasn't supposed to end like this, with him fading away into the arms of another woman.

Stefan's eyes were elsewhere, watching Katherine as she slipped up the stairs unnoticed by the others. Another glance around the room showed where Jeremy and Matt were working, serving drinks and making note of people they didn't recognize. Avril and Henry stood at the base of the stairs pretending to be absorbed with one another, but Stefan knew better.

Caroline entered the ballroom as the dance came to an end. She wore her pale hair piled in curls, tendrils framing her face delicately. Black pearls borrowed from Alexandra hung from her ears, and at her neck. The precious pendant was in Avril's keeping. All eyes were on her in that moment including a pair of dark piercing eyes staring down silently from above.

"Fun and games are over, " Damon said. "Back to work." He led his date from the dance floor giving Caroline an appreciative look as he passed her in the door way. A glance up the stairs and his eyes locked with Klaus's just before the vampire pulled away from the balcony railing. He picked up two glasses of champagne from Jeremy's tray and nodded slightly to him.

"Katherine is already upstairs. " Stefan said as the two couples met .

"So's Klaus." Damon said in a soft tone. "He's definitely spotted Caroline.

"She made quite the entrance." Elena said with a faint smile.

"Time for us to steal a little of her thunder." Damon said downing the rest of the champagne in the glass, then traded it out of a highball of bourbon as another tray went past. He made a show of drinking fast and hard. Shifting his body language steadily as he did so even though he was nowhere near drunk. He gave the girls an impish look before he pushed Alexandra away from him. "Damn it woman, stop clinging. " he said impatiently moving away from her.

Alex followed and the argument was on, the volume was kept loud enough to draw attention but soft enough that only the occasional word could be heard until she backed away, with her hand to her face and what appeared to be tears forming in her eyes.

The other two couples converged as did Caroline. Stefan and Henry pulled Damon out of the main room and back toward the kitchen and the service stairs up. Meanwhile the girls led Alexandra upstairs with the appearance of taking her somewhere to comfort her after Damon's cruel words.

"Damon's a Jerk." Elena said with well practiced conviction.

"Believe me, she's right." Caroline said, and the two shared stories of the evils of Damon. "you'd be better off without him.

Avril chimed in, mimicking Yvette with ease. "I can take care of it for you. I know you have some strange sort of affection for the creature, but there is a limit to what you should tolerate. It's embarrassing."

All done for the benefit of hybrid ears.

Alex buried her face into her sister's shoulder and produced convincing silent sobs.

"Can you get her some water?" Avril asked Caroline.

"Of course." She said and left the room. Caroline was now bait. She made her way toward the bathroom to get water when she was grabbed by the arm and pulled into a niche and kissed. Even if she hadn't known that Tyler was locked out of his own body, she would have known it wasn't him. The kiss was desperate and possessive and Tyler had been neither. Still she forced herself to respond. "Tyler." She said breathlessly. "I don't understand.."

"Shhh… not here. " Klaus said.

Caroline made a show of peering out into the corridor, looking both ways, locking eyes briefly with Katherine who stood at the top of the service stairs briefly before ducking down again. Caroline then grabbed Tyler by the hand and led him to the room that had been prepared well in advance.

Trusting in Katherine (god help me, she thought) to bring the others she smiled excitedly at Klaus. "I've missed you so much." She said, putting her hand on either side of his face, kissing him hungrily, keeping up the distraction. "I thought you were dead" She said drawing him into the center of the room. "God I love you."

"I love you too." Klaus told her, reveling in the illusion. He could do this. He could fool her until she came to love him not the boy she thought he was. Then they would leave this place forever. There was so much he wanted to show her, so much he wanted to give to her.

He was distracted by the beautiful woman in his arms but not enough that he didn't sense the others entering the room. Keeping up the charade he pushed Caroline behind him. "What's going on?" He asked looking around at the various couples that entered.

Caroline stepped back from Klaus and Avril and Alexandra spoke the words to bring their spells into play. "It's over Klaus." Caroline said. "You can't have him anymore."

Damon took his place behind Alexandra. His hands rested on her bare shoulders. Henry and Stefan stood to either side of her. Elena and Caroline stood with Avril.

Klaus lunged at Alexandra but came up against the force field the sisters had put in place.

* * *

Julianna entered the crypt, Portia walking close behind. The vampire pushed the lid from the sarcophagus and it hit the ground with crash, shattering in two. The women began to pull the willow canes from within and took them outside, tossing them far from the mausoleum.

Julianna set candles around the room and they each lit instantly once placed in position. She lit the incense and drew the symbols on the walls while Portia prepared the body and collected the soul stone and spell book.

Caroline threw the first vervain filled dart. They didn't need a gun to project them. Vampiric strength was more than enough for it to imbed in its mark.

The others quickly followed suit and Klaus stumbled, dropping to his knees. He did the one thing he knew to heal quickly and perhaps lessen the effect of the vervain. He began to change, bones beginning to shift and break in preparation for becoming the wolf.

Alexandra jerked forward out of Damon's grasp, plunging the bone shaft into the hybrid's side, the potion within mingling with his blood and flooding his system. With her free hand she found bare skin under his pant leg and grabbed on tightly, pulling his energy from his body. He was the most vulnerable during the shift.

Damon grabbed the other leg to hold it down as Stefan and Henry each grabbed an arm and pinned it beneath their knees hands on the hybrids shoulder pinning him to the floor.

Klaus's back arched and he howled in rage struggling until the vervain and the necromancer's potion forced him into near unconsciousness.

* * *

Madelena Salvatore was as beautiful as she had been in 1859 when she'd been lain to rest in her coffin. Her hair lay in long dark waves over her shoulders, still holding the curl as tightly as the day it had first been set. Her cheeks were blushed, her skin still soft and supple.

Portia set her on the floor in the middle of the circle and looked up to the stair way as the third party entered the scene. "We're ready." She told the man standing in the shadows.

He nodded silently and stepped into the light. Pale blue eyes took in the scene and he moved quickly to take up the book and find the page for the ritual required.

Damon's blood was poured from the vials to form the circle around Madelena and the new comer. The ends of the line did not quite meet, and Julianna swore.

The man looked to her impatiently and spoke two words, waving his hand in the general arch of the circle and the blood flowed, the line thinning slightly as the circle completed.

* * *

Jeremy smiled at one of the young ladies as he handed her a glass of champagne. The smile faded as she began to slump into unconsciousness. They would have to deal with them after the party. Avril had said the potion lasted for two hours. It was a short period of time in the grand scheme of things but it was long enough for them to get them out of the house and Deal with them later during the clean up phase.

He felt a little James Bond-ish as he set aside his tray of drinks and made his way to the front door, one hand on the gun in his coat pocket, preparing to face down the hybrids that approached in response to Klaus's howl.

Alaric stood behind him, and leaned in to whisper in his ear. "Let me in." He said quietly, and at the boy's nod, the deceased vampire hunter stepped inside and shared head space with Jeremy Gilbert.

Matt noticed the shift in body language and would have worried if there had been time.

* * *

As Klaus howled, Damon brought the fog in from the river, covering the Lockwood property in a thick dense layer giving the boys and Liz Forbes men as much advantage as he could.

Avril turned the key in the lock on the pendant and handed that off to Caroline. She knelt down on the floor at Klaus's head and pressed the soul stone against his chest above the heart. Even as drugged as he was the hybrid fought against her.

Stefan and Henry were out of the reach of Klaus's snapping jaws but it was taking almost everything they had to hold the originals torso in place as Avril canted the ritual.

Tyler left the stone, once more battling with Klaus. He'd lost the fight last time. He was determined not to fail again. There was too much at stake.

* * *

Madelena's body twitched and jerked as the energy coursed through it. Julianna's power mingled with that of the new comer lifting her off the ground.

Their words rose in chorus, echoing off of the marble walls, one building a spell the other tearing down the one that had been in place for more than a hundred and fifty years. The blood that encircled them, Damon's blood ignited and the flames rose high around them creating a wall of fire.

The man sliced his wrist allowing the blood to flow, mingling with that of his half brother in the circle continuing to fuel the flames as Julianna picked up the soul stone continuing to chant, placing it over Madelena's heart.

* * *

Sheriff Liz Forbes led her men thought the fog. The party guests had been driven inside by the sudden onset, and with two exceptions she knew that anything out moving was a target. The beauty of vervain was that it didn't affect humans badly even if they were mistaken.

She could see Jeremy Gilbert in the distance, wading into open combat with a level of experience that no one his age should have. She couldn't take the time to question or process as they took down Klaus's hybrids and one by one drug their unconscious bodies back to the county's SUVs to be disposed of later.

Jeremy's eyes scanned the scene, and he made one last sweep of the area before being satisfied that their job was done. Alaric eased out of the boy and stood at his side looking him over to make sure he was okay.

"Thank you." He told him.

Jeremy grinned. "It's all good. I enjoyed it." He said honestly.

As the last of the hybrids was drug away Liz approached the boy. "Are you alright?" she asked.

He nodded, still catching his breath. "Let's go find Matt. There's more unconscious inside."

* * *

Caroline stood to the back of the room watching anxiously as the battle continued to force Klaus out of Tyler's body. She lifted her gaze to see Carol Lockwood standing in the door, her expression mirroring Caroline's. The two women locked gazes and both nearly fell to tears with each horrible cry that came from Tyler's mouth.

The stone went black in Avril's hand, as Tyler completely forced his way inside the body. He got a foothold and shoved with every bit of willpower he could summon, aided by Avril's incantation just as Klaus was weakened by Alexandra's.

When the body ceased struggling, Damon moved back, and Alexandra placed her other hand on Tyler. He slid behind her, warm, almost feverish hands placed at her bare shoulders allowing her to take from his reserves which were more taxed than he realized. He suddenly felt pulled in two different directions and the world spun briefly.

Alexandra's head lolled back and she leaned back against her lover. Her eyes saw only the two spirits battling for possession of the body beneath her hands. She forced her essence into the body, as her eyes darkened to black. She formed a wedge between the two consciousnesses, protecting Tyler as Avril worked in earnest to pull the older presence from the body and force it into the soul stone.

* * *

Julianna canted the ritual, ignoring all else around her. She had no reserves to spare and she didn't need to see anyway.

The man's incantation shifted in tone, becoming harsh and guttural, as he knelt beside them. He placed his right hand at his mother's solar plexis. The flames followed the blood trail to his left hand and he screamed as they engulfed him and passed through him to flood his mother with their energy.

Madelena's chest began to rise and fall and Julianna pressed her power through the stone, forcing the soul back into the body it had long ago vacated. Vibrant blue eyes opened for the first time in more than a century taking in the scene around her. "Marco." She said quietly as she forced herself into seated position with long atrophied muscles. She smiled at her eldest son as Julianna propped her up.

"I'm here mother. " He said raggedly.

"And your brother?"

"is enthralled by another. " he said and held out his hand to Portia who gave her own willingly. He slit her wrist and drank of her blood to heal before placing his hand on either side of her face to draw her energy into himself. He didn't stop until she lay empty and desiccated on the floor before him.

"My daughter." Julianna said. "His will is not broken. She fancies that she is in love with him."

The haze of spirits that Alexandra had detected hovering throughout Mystic Falls answered the call of Marco Andreassi and flooded the mausoleum giving their strength willing or not to restore his mother's energy.

"hmmm." Madelena hummed. "We shall see if this pleases me or not. For now we shall leave them be. I have far too much to learn before I can make my presence known, even to Damon." She smiled up at her son who rose to his feet and held his hand out to her, assisting her to her feet. "I knew that you would never fail me." She told Marco.

"Never." He said smiling brightly.

* * *

Avril took the key from Caroline again and looked to her sister once the soul stone was red once more. Alexandra nodded and she locked the stone, handing the key back to Caroline.

Elena handed Avril a glass of water, in exchange for the necklace. "You look like you could use this." She said.

Damon eased his exhausted lover away from the boy on the floor and over to an overstuffed chair. He pulled her into his lap and kissed her brow as she curled up, exhausted, in his arms.

With the sudden silence in the room, no chanting, no screams or growls, he could hear the band again as it played down stairs. As always their drama played out while the rest of Mystic Falls danced blissfully unaware that anything was going on.

Neither Carol nor Caroline wasted any time filling the vacant spaces around Tyler. He was still groggy from the vervain and Alexandra's potion, but Tyler smiled albeit weakly as they both embraced him. "I'm home." He said softly, more than happy to be wrapped up in both of their arms.

"Let's get him to his room so that he can recover." Carol said and the two of them helped Tyler to his feet. She glanced to Damon. "This is over? Completely over?"

Damon nodded. "As over as we can make it."

"Thank you." She said and the three of them left the room.

Henry helped Avril to her feet and over to sit in another chair near her sister and Damon.

"Where's Elena?" Avril asked. "I handed her the necklace, I'd like to get that secured while I still have the energy.

"She went to check on Jeremy." Stefan said. "She'll be back." He said pulling the chair from behind the desk to sit down with the others."How are you two holding up?"

"Tired." Alex said. "But no worse for wear. I'll be fine soon." She said closing her eyes again, as Damon continued to caress her arm, as he held her.

"I'm alright." Avril said. "Tired but good. I'm glad this is over." She frowned a little. "Are you sure she just went to check on Jeremy?"

Damon frowned. "You know who else is conspicuously missing?" He said looking at Stefan.

"Katherine." The brothers said in unison.


	40. Epilog

"So are we forming a hunting party for Katherine in the morning?" Alexandra asked as they got out of the car. She was still tired. No one else was up to hunting down the thieving vampire before morning.

"No. So long as we have the key no one can let him out so I don't care where Klaus's soul is. I figure she's been on the run from him for her entire life. She deserves the chance at a little payback." Damon said.

"You're probably right." Alexandra said as he led her into the bathroom and started the tub filling with hot water. "I'm too tired to worry much over it, I hate say."

"We'll fix that." He said as he unzipped her gown, letting it fall into a pile of shimmering gold at her feet.

"You've been waiting to see that on the floor for days." She said laughing a little.

"And you're too tired for it to be any fun." He said picking it up and hanging it on the hook on the door.

"Sadly."

Damon kissed the back of her neck, before removing her jewelry and unpinning her long hair. "We need to talk." He said softly as he scooped her up and eased her into the water.

"That sounds ominous." She said not quite meeting his gaze.

He pushed a long strand of her hair behind her ear. "No. Nothing ominous." He said lifting her chin to look into her eyes. "I want you to let me go." Damon told her.

She nodded. "If that's what you want." Alexandra said. "Can I ask why?"

"Something you said earlier. That you had felt like you were taking advantage." He said. "I don't want you to feel that way. I'm with you because I want to be." Damon said. "I think it's time that I prove it to you." Damon slowly stood upright. "It can keep till you're stronger. Then we'll pack for that vacation. You're bringing the hand cuffs by the way. Stefan fessed up to going and visiting Katherine while Elena was dress shopping."

Alexandra laughed. She noticed that he was still dressed and frowned a little. "Aren't you joining me?" She asked.

"I'll be back long before the water's cold. I have a promise to keep first."

Alex nodded. "Tell him good bye and thank you for me."

Damon nodded. "I will." He said and kissed her before leaving.

* * *

Carol had finally gone back to her guests leaving Caroline and Tyler alone.

"I have missed you so much." She said resting her head on his shoulder. "I never thought I'd see you again."

"I'm here." He said. "I'm not going anywhere again. Not without you." Tyler promised. "It's finally over. No more Klaus. No more running or feeling trapped. " He smiled. "No more worrying about what happens if he gets killed or what he'll do if he isn't."

"It really is a Klaus free world. Finally." Caroline laughed. "I was beginning to think we'd never be rid of him."

"You look incredible." He told her, turning on his side to look at her, taking it all in. He caressed her face. "I love you Caroline Forbes. "

"I love you too." She said leaning into his touch.

* * *

Katherine Pierce smiled as strong arms closed around her. "I've missed you." She said her hands on the balcony rail, looking down at the garden grounds below. Her head leaned back against the man's chest.

He kissed her neck softly. "I've missed you too. Is it secure?" he asked, burying his face in her hair.

"It is. "She said. "They'll never find it."

Elijah nodded. "Good." He told her turning her to face him. "I have to go back." He brushed a dark curl back from her face.

"What? Why?" Katherine asked. "We're free. We're finally free of him and what happens back there isn't our problem anymore."

"I made a promise." He said. "I can't abandon them. Not yet. We'll be together, Katerina. You need to be patient ."

"Do you promise?" She asked studying his face.

"I promise." He said leaning in to kiss her tenderly. "I love you"

(End Book One)

A/N the story will be continued in Book Two which is nearing completion now :) Hope you enjoyed the story, please review! Its like getting paid in chocolate. LOL.


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